Just a few weeks ago I was in our historic downtown Henderson KY getting my hair cut at one of our towns oldest beauty shops-a precious place full of some of Henderson Kentucky’s finest operators (now known as stylists) and customers.

It was a late Thursday afternoon.  Thursdays and Fridays at Kelly’s Mane Event (formerly known as the Cardinal Beauty Shop operated by Dorothy Kockritz) are very busy.

One of the hot topics of beauty shop gossip was: “How does the ever popular Downtown Sandwich Shop make those great pickles?”  One of the ladies who was just getting up from the hair dryer said she knew the recipe, and it was easy.   She went on to say that a lady on North Main Street was making the pickles for the Downtown Sandwich Shop, and their business was growing so much that she couldn’t keep up with the demand.  It was also said that she had her hands full building a home in our downtown and that was another reason she had to give up the pickle making.

Here is the recipe as I heard it:

Sweet Pickled Dills

1 gallon of sliced hamburger dills (Sureway and Sam’s Club have these drain them well-you will not use any of this juice)
4 pound bag of sugar  (usually is around 9 1/3 cups)
4 Tablespoons of Pickling Spice (found in the spice isle of grocery)
1 small packet of dried red chili peppers (about 8-10 peppers)  That is if you like it hot!

Mix everything right in the jar!

Tighten the lid of the pickles. Turn jar upside down frequently for the sugar to dissolve.  It usually takes about 24 hours for all the sugar to melt and make the new sweet pickle juice. Keep the pickles on the kitchen counter for seven days turning up and down frequently.

After seven days of turning the pickles place in the refrigerator.  They should keep for  four months.    They are so good you will find them gone way before then.

Have you tried to make the Beauty Shop Pickles?  How did they turn out?

Often times when we think of a beauty shop we think of gossip.  However, it is more than that.  It is creating community and when we have community together we learn and sometimes that can be how to make dill pickles sweet!  Encourage a community of spreading good positive news in your community like they do at Kelly’s Mane Event.

What have you learned at the beauty shop?