Good pickles, according to professional pickle packers, have a crunch that's audible at 10 paces. It's an unmistakable sound -- that wet snap and grind of a crisp, sour dill -- that is music to the ears of pickle lovers. And it's part of summer's foodie symphony -- right up there with the thwack of a firm watermelon, the slurp of a juicy peach and the rat-a-tat bursting of golden corn kernels right off the cob. Familiar, yes, and dripping in folksy, homespun charm just as nakedly as apple pie. Americans consume more than 2.5 billion pounds of pickles a year (that's about 20 billion pickled cucumbers). Pickles go with our summer burgers, our salads, our relish trays -- all mainstays of outdoor entertaining. The pickle is benefiting from the continued bounce in home canning and preserving, which began about two years ago as the country's financial crisis mounted. More homemade pickles are showing up on the dinner table; more chefs are creating delicious pickles for their restaurant customers. Like the growing charcuterie trend, some chefs are discovering the beauty of the house-brined pickled cucumber or assortment of pickled vegetables. 'We're all getting back to that urban homesteading stuff that we used to do. Every family used to put up vegetables and fruits in their own ways,' said Houston chef Monica Pope of t'afia, who has been making and serving pickles -- a yellow pickle made with tumeric and a pink pickle colored with beet juice -- for years. 'It's a flavor we crave in a lot of different cultures.' Pope said one positive trickle down -- or 'pickle down' -- from the recession is the return to practices such as home canning and preserving. 'These are things that we've forgotten and don't do anymore or don't appreciate. All that stuff is coming back.' It has certainly come back at two of Houston's most buzzed-about new restaurants, BRC Gastropub and Zelko Bistro, both of which are making their own pickles. 'You could buy good pickles but where does it end? We need to learn how to do it. It's important we go back to the basics and learn the nostalgic trades,' said Jamie Zelko, chef-owner of the wildly popular Zelko Bistro. Zelko recently put up some pickles -- made with Texas Kirby cucumbers and fresh dill from the farmer's market -- and soon will be ready to offer them to customers. She's also working on pickling watermelon rinds in addition to putting up homemade preserves. It's not that difficult, she said. 'I don't think homemade products are as labor-intensive as people make them out to be,' she said. 'It's just basics.' It's also fun, said Jeff Axline, chef of BRC, which offers a delicious and obscenely underpriced jar of house-cured half-sour garlic dill pickles as a pub snack. Served in a glass jar (into which Axline has also thrown in some asparagus spears), the pickles have been, like the wee pub itself, an instant hit. 'To us, the pickles are something easy to do,' Axline said. 'They're something you can share.' And Texans love sharing pickles, said The Grove's executive chef Ryan Pera. 'You can find pickles in almost every culture in the world,' he said. 'In Texas there's a huge pickle culture.' Pera has been feeding that pickle culture house-made dills since The Grove opened. His recipe embraces both classic and atypical spices thrown into a joyous brine. In addition to dill, garlic, whole black peppercorns and mustard seeds, Pera also uses allspice, clove, coriander, juniper berries, fennel, star anise and cinnamon stick in his pickling broth. 'A pickle can take a lot of seasoning,' he said. 'Ultimately what I wanted was balance. But it has a lot of complexity.' Pera also wanted to give pickle lovers something that is both familiar and unusual. 'People have probably had a million pickles in their lives,' he said. 'I want them to crave a pickle at The Grove. I want it to be great. I want it to say something about our food.' And pickles, for many, are saying it loudly -- perhaps at a crunchy sound audible even beyond 10 paces. greg.morago@chron.com GARLIC DILL PICKLES Courtesy 'Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Cookbook' 2 pounds Kirby cucumbers, scrubbed 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1/4 cup kosher salt 2 tablespoons sliced garlic 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill 1 tablespoon brown or yellow mustard seeds 1 bay leaf Chill the cucumbers in a bowl of ice for at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight in the refrigerator. In a medium nonreactive pot over medium-high heat, combine 4 cups water, vinegar and salt, and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the salt has dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Drain the cucumbers and place in a large bowl. Add the garlic, dill, mustard seeds and bay leaf. Pour the water mixture over the cucumbers. Place a plate or other weight on top of the cucumbers so they are completely submerged in the liquid; if necessary add more cold water to cover. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. Transfer to the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Note: This recipe will give you a very classic, garlicky dill pickle. If you like half-sours, eat the pickles while they are still bright green, about 3 days. Sour-pickle fans should let theirs marinate for at least another day or two. Makes about 18 pickles XXX - End of Story3D 