Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Dill pickles

The other day while I was smoking some pork butts for BBQ I had some time on my hands as well as about 5 lbs of cucumbers. I've made sweet pickles, I've made relish. Dill pickles would round out my pickle storage requirements. I used the recipe right out of the Ball Blue Book.





















While I didn't have as many pickles as suggested for the recipe I figured if I had a little extra pickling liquid that would be OK. It's very inexpensive.


Ingredients:
8 lbs 4-6 inch cucumbers split
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canning salt
1 quart each: vinegar, water
3 TBS mixed pickling spices
dill
garlic (1 clove per jar)
Jalapenos - 1/2 per jar

Directions:
Wash cucumbers, drain.
Split lengthwise and trim off a little the blossom end. (I ended up quartering them to fit the jars better)
Combine, sugar, salt, vinegar and water in a large sauce pot.
Tie spices in a spice bag (I used cheese cloth), add spice bag to vinegar mixture.
Bring to boil then simmer for 15 minutes.
Pack cucumbers into sterile jars, add jalapeno slice, dill and clove of garlic to each jar.
Ladle pickling liquid over cucumbers leaving 1/4" head space.
Adjust two piece caps. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes in boiling water canner.

I got 6 pints out of this and maybe a cup of left over pickling liquid. Incidentally, this was the first canning I've done where a jar didn't seal.  That's OK, it's in the fridge and I'll eat them up soon!





















Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
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7 comments:

  1. When I end up with extra pickling liquid, whether it be sweet, dill or bread & butter, I just put it in a jar in the refrigerator and slice fresh cucumbers into it. In just a few days they're good enough to eat.

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  2. Granny, That's a great tip! I've done that with onions as well.

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  3. Let us know how they taste. I have not found a dill pickle recipe that I like yet.

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  4. Looks good. I have never tried making split pickles. Now I will have too

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  5. Becky, I'll let you know...

    Mrs Pickle, how is it you've never made split pickles?

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  6. I just picked 30lbs of cuckes tonight...i think i will try this recipe tomorrow!

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  7. Mrs. Pickles, you have surely earned your moniker! I've got some more to do today, and just did some pickled gingered carrots last night.

    ReplyDelete

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