The Pickle 25 · No. 19 of 25

  1. Dill Spears from Grillo's Pickles No.19Photo: Grillo's Pickles

    Dill and sour

    Dill Spears

    From Grillo's Pickles · Boston, Massachusetts · @grillospickles

    Vinegar○○○No heat

    Travis Grillo started in 2008 with a wooden cart on Boston Common, selling his family's garden recipe at two spears for a dollar. It grew into a Cambridge shop and then the refrigerated case almost everywhere. The recipe on the jar is still the short one: cucumbers, vinegar brine, garlic, dill and grape leaves. Grillo's sells through stores more than online: its product page has the store finder.

    The pickle that keeps winning the blind taste tests. Cold, garlicky and still tasting like cucumber.

    Eat it withA deli sandwichBurgers off the grillStraight from the jar, cold
    Order from Grillo's Pickles ↗More from Grillo's Pickles ↗

    Chef's quick version

    Fresh garlic dill spears

    15 min, then 2 days · makes 1 quart · A refrigerator pickle, never cooked: the brine goes on cool so the cucumbers stay crisp and green, with grape leaves for crunch.

    Save to my recipes

    You need

    • 1½ lb (680 g) small Kirby cucumbers, ends trimmed, cut lengthwise into quarters
    • 1½ cups (360 ml) water
    • ¾ cup (180 ml) distilled white vinegar
    • 1 tbsp (18 g) fine sea salt
    • 6 garlic cloves, halved
    • A large handful of fresh dill, stems and all
    • 2 grape leaves (or 2 black tea bags' leaves, or a few oak leaves)

    How to make it

    1. Stir the salt into the water and vinegar until it dissolves completely. Don't heat it: a cold brine keeps the spears crisp.
    2. Line a clean quart jar with a grape leaf. Pack the spears in standing up, tucking the garlic and dill between them, and finish with the second leaf on top.
    3. Pour the brine over until everything is under by at least ½ inch. Press the leaf down to keep the spears submerged.
    4. Close and refrigerate. They taste like pickles after 2 days and are best from day 3 to 3 weeks; keep them cold the whole time.

    Chef's own quick version, in our words. It isn't Grillo's Pickles's recipe: for the real thing, order the jar.

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