Sun dill pickles

From the time I was about 8 years old, my parents have been going to Mountain Home, Arkansas.  The lakes there are Bull Shoals Lake and Norfork Lake.  Both are gorgeous and clear and not overpopulated.  

Starting at about 8, we went from tent to pop-up camper to 5th wheel camper to lake house.  Camping is awesome when you are young because mom and dad take care of most everything, and you get to play, so I didn't mind camping at all, except that we were usually needed to help get the camper set-up.  I was always ready to go swimming, so I did probably whine a little bit. :)

It was on one of these camping trips when I was probably about 10 or 12 that we came across the sun dill pickle.  We were camping at Lakeview camp ground in Lakeview, Arkansas on Bull Shoals Lake.  Dad would jog every morning and on his jog this particular day, he saw some people camping that had a few jars of pickles sitting out in the hot sun.  He was curious, and I was (and still am) his spokesperson...so he sent me down to ask why in the world they had pickles in the sun.  Turns out they were super nice people and the pickles were sun dills, and require 5 days in the sun to do their thing.  

For the next almost 30 years mom would make them.  She hasn't made them in several years, but a friend of ours remembered them and started making them recently, and it made me want to try some.  

Here is the recipe mom wrote down.  I made it basically the same.  I did turn the jar upside down a couple of times to distribute the dill and salt because it seemed to need it. I rewrote the recipe below to make it easier to read. :)

Sun Dills

Put 2 stalks fresh dill or 1 t dill seed in a quart jar.

Fill with washed pickles.  Add  5 or 6 buds of garlic, 1 1/2 T salt and 1/4 cup vinegar.  Fill with cold water, place one slice of rye bread on top, pressing it to fit inside the jar and then put lid on. I turned the jar upside down a couple of times to distribute the salt and dill a bit.  Sit jars in sun for 5 days, turning jars each day.  Refrigerate after 5 days.  

Mom always used tiny whole cucumbers from the garden.  Mine grow big so fast that I had to use big cukes, so I am hoping these sliced ones will be okay.  These 3 jars went into the sun today...we shall see shortly, fingers crossed that they are a success!