Grandma’s Dill Pickles

11 cups water
5 cups white vinegar
1 cup canning salt
12 pounds pickling cucumbers,
quartered or halved lengthwise
9 dill heads
(Heads are the flowers of fresh dill plants. You can substitute 3 tablespoons of dill seed.)
18 garlic cloves
18 small dried hot chili peppers

In a Dutch oven, bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil; boil for 10 minutes. Pack cucumbers into quart jars within 1⁄4 inch of top. Place one dill head (or 1 teaspoon dill seed), two garlic cloves and two peppers in each jar. Ladle boiling liquid over cucumbers, leaving a quarter-inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

Yield: 9 quarts