It's pickle season. This is the time of the year when cucumbers, dill and garlic are plentiful, and so the great picklers of the world are busy.

One of the world's greatest picklers is my grandmother. She makes a batch of garlic dills that can't be beat. The problem is that there is no recipe. They are created by taste and eyesight. Many great foods are handed down for generations but no recipe can describe the right levels of ingredients. Just enough garlic, dill and the perfect level of salted water and a week later the best pickle you ever had. They just keep getting better through the stages of development from new dill to a full dill pickle.

The only way to learn is to apprentice, and so I received a lesson. The only way to know how salty the water should be is by taste. My grandmother mixed up a batch, and I tasted.

Last summer, I made my own batch, and it was a success. My brother declared one of the last pickles to be the best he ever had. He said that the only problem was that every pickle that he would eat in the future would be a disappointment. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Scientifically, a pickle is any perishable ingredient that has been preserved in a brine. But pickling isn't only about science, it's about tradition, economy and family. Our ancestors, no matter what part of the globe they hailed from, pickled to preserve fruits, vegetables, meats and fish. They pickled to save money. They pickled to make the most out of their foods. Harsh winters, humid tropical climates, short growing seasons, poor soil, fast-spoiling staples, even summer abundance and gardening pride, all have created the arts of pickling and food preservation.

Since the Middle Ages, pickles were a common condiment and snack in England. Queen Elizabeth's chefs noted her liking of them.

Before Amerigo Vespucci set out to explore the New World, he was a pickle peddler in Seville, Spain. Since food spoilage and the lack of healthy meals were such concerns on long voyages, he loaded up barrels of pickled vegetables onto explorer ships. Hundreds of sailors were spared the ravages of scurvy because of his understanding of the nutritional benefits of pickles.

Pickles were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus, who is known to have grown cucumbers for the purpose of pickling on the island of Haiti.

Thomas Jefferson noted: “On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar.”

Today 5.2 million pounds of pickles are consumed annually in the United States. That's nine pounds per person per year.

Dill pickles are by far the most popular variety of pickles. Commercially genuine dills are “processed,” and dill weed is added to the tanks during the last stage of fermentation. Their flavor is more concentrated and sour than other dill pickles.

Kosher dills are made the same way, but generous doses of garlic are added to the brine at the end.

Overnight dills are fresh cucumbers that sit in a brine in the refrigerator for a few days. Bright green and crunchy, they taste fresher and less acidic.

New dill or half sour are fresh pickles placed in a non-vinegar brine of salted water, the longer they stay in that brine, the more sour they become. They are crispy and green.

The variety that can be created in home pickling is impossible for commercial manufacturers. Making your own, you can change the flavor to meet your individual tastes, recycle brine by putting fresh vegetables in your favorite store boughts, use organic produce, control ingredients, experiment with spices and add color. People pickle for a multitude of reasons; because it's easy and inexpensive, because it's a fun activity and because their parents and grandparents used to pickle.

Try it; you'll like it. Start a new family tradition. I have included two recipes. Both are easy to do and the results are wonderful. Enjoy.

This column has been a collaborative effort between Auburn natives chef Max Hitchcock and his mother, Susan Silverman. They can be reached at Birdscapes@adelphia.net

Kosher Dill Pickles

Using a 3 gallon jar

5 pounds of small cucumbers

1 teaspoon table salt per cup of boiled water

7-12 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup vinegar (optional)

Several sprigs of fresh dillweed (about 1/2 cup, packed)

Scrub the cucumbers.

Pack them snugly in the jar/crock, interspersing the garlic cloves.

Pour in the salted water, leaving a few inches headroom.

Add the vinegar.

Top with the dillweed.

Cover.

Set on a large plate, to catch spillage (which is likely when fermentation starts) in a warm or sunny spot.

During warm weather, these can be at the half-sour stage within as few as three days.

When they reach the level of flavor you're seeking, refrigerate.

Note: This is similar to my grandmothers but she doesn't use vinegar.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

6 cucumbers, cleaned, stemmed and halved, lengthwise

1/2 cup of white vinegar

2 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of black peppercorns

1 tablespoon of coriander seeds

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of fresh dill

Place salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic and dill in a sterilized 1-quart Mason jar.

Layer sliced cucumbers in jar, leaving 1/2 inch at the top.

Pour in vinegar.

Fill jar with water, seal with lid and shake for about a minute.

Refrigerate for six days, shaking daily.

Makes 1-quart jar of dill pickles. This simple recipe, however, can easily be multiplied.