Grandma Eck's Pickles

For the brine:
2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup pickling salt
(this is enough for four jars)

Per quart jar:
-cucumbers to fill jar
-fresh dill weed (get tall sprigs that have headed into seeds. i got it from the french guy at the farmers market. you could also use the soft willowy kind but i think it'd milder in flavor and more expensive)
-grape, horseradish or cherry leaves (i couldn't find this. it makes them stay crunchy.)
-2-3 cloves of garlic
-1 tsp alum
-1/2 cup of the brine
-boiling water to fill jars

Mix vinegar and salt in a pot and boil to make the brine.

Meanwhile, wash jar and boil lids to soften rubber.

Put garlic, a small bunch of dill and grape leaves in bottom of each jar.
Add cukes
Add alum
Add 1/2 cup brine
Ad another small bunch of dill
Add boiling water to fill jar (we realized we needed to make sure that the liquid went to the top and covered all the cukes. dont let any stick out)

Wipe off any dill or debris from the jar rim before screwing lids on tightly, to ensure a good seal.

Put jars in 350 degree oven or a hot water bath just until sealed (do not boil). It took about 10 min.

This recipe is pieced together from three phone calls and four e-mails from my mom who ended up saying: "If you use this recipe then it is just however many jars of pickles it will fill. It is kind of a guess. I looked in the mennonite cookbook at pickles and not one recipe calls for alum. My mom always used it and I am sure grandma Eck did too but it is not written on her recipe. Old recipes are awful. Nothing is 'fer sure.' "