Old Fashion Dill Pickle Recipe: Crisp, Snappy Dills

Copyright © 2010 Cherie Kuranko ~ "InkSpot"

All Rights Reserved.

When it comes to pickling, the memories are fond. Sitting under the kitchen table with my little brother and sneaking cucumbers from the jar or sweet pickles from the crock. I still remember Mum's surprise as she kept filling each jar with more and more pickles, wondering if she had just filled that last jar. Then a tug on the table cloth to discover the culprits behind the disappearing cucumbers and pickles. We love our pickles and this simple family recipe has been requested from friends, neighbors and at potlucks or church socials more times than we can recall. So enjoy great grandma's pickle recipe.

Old Fashion Dill Pickle Family Recipe

First, harvest your cucumbers. Pickling with whole organic cucumbers works best to get a crisp, snappy pickle. Pick the cucumbers when they are about 3 - 6 inches in length. Using a clean soft scrub brush used only on vegetables, scrub the cucumbers to remove all dirt. Be sure to get the ends of the cucumbers as well. Rinse the cucumber, then using a paring knife just barely nip off the blossom end and remove the stem. It is important to remove the blossom end as bacteria can hide there. Give the cucumbers a final rinse under cold water and you are ready to get to pickling.

Place thoroughly clean, wide mouth quart jars in the oven at 250 degrees. Place your lids (not the rings) in a small pot of water and turn heat to low. Get out your other supplies; tongs or magnet for pulling lids out of warm pot, a ladle for scooping and pouring your brine and ready your dill, spices and measuring spoons.  Warming your lids helps them seal better when placed on the jar. Let these heat up while you make the brine.

Next, make your pickling brine using the following ingredients:

• 1 quart vinegar
• 1 quart water
• 1/2 cup canning salt

Boil the following ingredients in a large pot on the stove and then turn down the heat to keep it at a low boil. You can increase the recipe to make as much brine as you need. You may also let the brine cool completely and store it in a clean one gallon jug. We recycle the vinegar jug, rinsing it out first. You can then use the brine as needed to make pickles as the cucumbers come on the vine. This makes it very simple to only do a few jars at a time.

Take only one jar out of the oven at a time. Use hot pads and place it on a towel rather than directly on the countertop to avoid cracking the jar.

Add the following to each jar:

• 1 sprig of freshly cut dill (the dill flower head)
• 1 tbsp pickling spices
• 1 tbsp mustard seed
• Optional: You can spice up your pickles by adding hot peppers, crushed red pepper flakes or add garlic for a different taste. If you want a standard flavored dill pickle, only use the first three spices listed here.

Carefully add your pickles to the jar. They should be packed in tightly--as many as you can fit in the jar, but leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Then ladle in your pickling brine. Fill jars, leaving the top 1/4 inch for your head space.

Retrieve your lids and place them on the jars. Screw on and tighten the jar rings. Flip the jar onto its lid on a towel away from your pickling operation and let it set while you complete the other pickles. Flipping the jars helps the lids seal better by utilizing the heat of the boiled brine.

The pickles should then be water bathed for 15 minutes in boiling water according to Ball's Canning Blue Book to kill off any bacteria. Water bathing takes some of the snap out of the pickles, but is advised. The old family recipe did not water bath this pickle recipe, but science has since proven it is safer to do so. Some traditions are worth sacrificing. To learn more about canning, pickling and such please read Ball's Canning Blue Book. It provides beginners with all the information necessary to leran how to preserve their own food.

Other Food Preservation and Canning Related Articles

How to Make Homemade Jam

Old Fashion Beet Pickle Recipe

Pumpkin Pickles Recipe

Crab Apple Butter Recipe

Copyright © 2010 Cherie Kuranko ~ "InkSpot"

All Rights Reserved.