Looking for How to Make and Can Dill Pickles, Naturally - and Easily in 2022? Scroll down this page and follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above. If you are having a hard time finding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days.
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Yield: 7 to 9 pint jars
Click here for a PDF print version
Making and canning your own dill pickles the old-fashioned way, with all natural ingredients has never been easier!! Here's how to do it, in easy steps and completely illustrated. This method is so easy, ANYONE can do this! It's a great thing to do with your kids!
Note: in Step 4 the cucumbers need to sit in brine for 12 hours, so plan ahead (I do that overnight)
Click here for the page of frequently asked questions (with answers) about making pickles.
I've added free labels for your jars here, in a Word format! Just download, edit, and print in label paper.
Other types are:
It's
fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality
cucumbers!
At right is a of picture cucumbers from my garden - they are SO easy to grow. But be sure to grow the varieties that are labeled "pickling cucumbers" - they will be much more crisp!
The
picture at right shows a good cucumber for pickling (bottom) and a bad one
(top). The good one is dark green, firm, and not bloated. It has
lots of warts!
The bad one is overripe, it has yellow or white areas in the skin, and the warts are almost all gone. If you cut it open, you will see developed seeds. You don't want seeds!
Overripe cucumbers make mushy pickles.
Note: in Step 4 the cucumbers need to sit in brine for 12 hours, so plan ahead (I do that overnight)
It takes about 3 or 4 cucumbers to fill a pint jar. Each cucumber is about 4 - 5 inches long and you will cut off the ends so they will fit with 1/4-inch to spare..
The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize"
cycle. I get that going while I'm preparing everything else, so it's
done by the time I'm ready to fill the jars. If you don't have a
dishwasher, submerge the jars in a large pot (the canner itself) of water
and bring it to a boil.
Be sure to let it go through the rinse cycle to get rid of any soap!
Fill the canner about 1/2 full of water and start it heating (with the lid on).
Put
the lids into the small pot of boiling water for at least several minutes.
Note: everything gets sanitized in the water bath (step 7) anyway, so this just
helps to ensure there is no spoilage later!)
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Dissolve 3/4 cup salt in 2 gals cool water. Pour this over cucumbers in a large plastic bowl or teflon pot and let stand 12 hours, then drain and discard the liquid.
Whether you want dills or sweet pickles; canning them or straight into the refrigerator; there is a mix for every taste and need here!Get them all here, delivered direct to your home, at the best prices on the internet! Get everything you need to make pickles: mixes, salt, brine, etc. here!
I'm
sure you can figure out how to wash the fruit in plain cold water.
You will need to cut the blossom end off (about 1/4-inch, the blossom harbors microbes that can cause softening. ) and discard, but you can leave the stem end and 1/4-inch of the stem attached, or slice it off, as you prefer. Then slice them lengthwise, if you like spears. You can also leave them whole or cut them cross-wise for bread-and-butter pickles.
Set them aside for use in step 7.
Combine
the
Put the 2 tbsp whole mixed pickling spice into a piece of cheesecloth or other clean cloth (Note: a baby's mesh teether, meant to hold an ice cube is made of plastic, is reusable and perfect for this.
Bring the mix to a near-boil - just simmering!
Be sure to use a NON-metal pot - or a coated metal (teflon, silverstone, enamel, etc.) without breaks in the coating. the metal reacts with the vinegar and makes the pickle solution turn cloudy.
Put
the dill and mustard seed in the bottom of each jar:
- Mustard seed: 1 teaspoon per pint jar
- Fresh dill: 3 heads to 11/2 heads per pint jar OR
1 tbsp to 11/2 teaspoons of dill seed per pint jar
Pack the cucumbers from step 5, whole or slices in and pour the simmering pickle mix liquid over them. Fill them to within 1/4-inch of the top, seat the lid and hand-tighten the ring around them.
Put
them in the canner and keep them covered with at least 1 inch of water.
Keep the water boiling. Boil them for 10 minutes (or as directed by the
instructions with your canner). Remember to adjust for altitudes
and larger jars! Note: some mixes, such as the Ball Kosher Dill mix call
for only boiling for 5 minutes - I'll let you know how that works out!
generally, the longer you process the jars, the more mushy (less crisp)
the pickles will be.
Recommended process time for Quick Fresh-Pack Dill Pickles in a boiling-water canner. | ||||
Process Time at Altitudes of | ||||
Style of Pack | Jar Size | 0 - 1,000 ft | 1,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft |
Raw | Pints | 10 min | 15 | 20 |
Quarts | 15 | 20 | 25 |
Lift
the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping
them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then
remove the rings if you like, but if you leave them on, at least loosen
them quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture.
Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying
that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently,
with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound),
it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you
can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar,
then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them
(with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.
When can you start eating the pickles? Well, it takes some time for the seasonings to be absorbed into the pickles. That's at least 24 hours, but for best flavor wait 2 weeks! Ah... the wait...
See this page for a more complete set of frequently asked pickling questions and answers
Other Equipment:From left to right:
|
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Home Canning KitsThis is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother used to
make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts
for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a
plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball
Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll
never need anything else except jars & lids (and the jars are reusable)!
There is also a simple kit with just the canner and rack, and a pressure canner, if you want to do vegetables (other than tomatoes). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! |
Summary - Cost of Making Homemade Pickles - makes 12 pint jars, 16 oz each* |
||||
Item | Quantity | Cost in 2022 | Source | Subtotal |
Cucumbers | 30-36 (about 3 or 4 per pint jar) | free from the garden, or $3.00 cents at a PYO | Pick your own | $3.00 |
Canning jars (pint size, wide mouth), includes lids and rings | 12 jars | $8.00/dozen | Grocery stores (Publix, Kroger, Safeway, etc.) | $5.00 |
Vinegar | 4 cups | $0.99 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$0.99 |
Sugar | 1/4 cup | $0.25 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$0.25 |
Pickling salt | 11/4 cups | $2.00 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$2.00 |
Dill (fresh or seed) | 7 heads | I grow it, otherwise, I'd use the seed from the grocery: $2.00 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$2.00 |
Pickle spices | 2 Tablespoons | $2.00 per package, sp about $0.50 | Grocery stores (Publix, Kroger, Safeway, etc.) | $0.50 |
Total | $14.00 total or about $1.50 per jar INCLUDING the jars - which you can reuse! |
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* - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars! Many products are sold in jars that will take the lids and rings for canning. For example, Classico Spaghetti sauce is in quart sized jars that work with Ball and Kerr lids and rings. Note that the Classico's manufacturer does not recommend reuse of their jars: see what they have to say on this page: |
Above is the
2020 version of
the Ball Blue Book