Garlic Dills.
Bread and Butter Pickles.
Sweet Gherkins.
Pickled Beets
Pickled Onions
Pickled Radishes
The list goes on..
Who doesn’t love a good pickle?
I have added dill pickles to my canning repertoire this year. This being my first attempt at making dills , I am hopeful they will come out exactly like I envisioned them. A crisp, garlicky dill pickle to grace my hamburger or to compliment my grilled cheese. We shall find out in a few weeks after the required sitting time.
I had emailed my internet gal pal out west for her pickle recipe, but she was on a short vacay and said she would get back to me upon her return. Since I had already purchased my cukes at the market last week (and I am impatient as all get out), I ended up searching high and low for another trusted recipe and came by one from Canadian Living (www.canadianliving.com). I love their monthly magazine and their website is a huge resource not just for cooking, but home decorating, lifestyle, etc. Their recipes are pretty much no-fail, tested until perfect even, so I knew I could count on their recipe for making a good batch of pickles.
I also love pickled serranos and jalapeños. So I utilized their Dill Pickle Spears recipe and added one half of a hot pepper to each jar. Really looking forward to tasting the end result.
I started off with a 3 liter basket of mini cucumbers (about 3 to 4″ long), after scrubbing them, it was time to soak in them in a ice/salt water brine for up to 8 hours. Apparently this helps the cucumbers to retain their crunch.
While you are waiting for the cukes, prepare your garlic cloves, dill heads and peppers. I went and pilfered my neighbours garden for the dill as he has so many dill plants that he said I should just help myself to whatever I needed. Love neighbours like that.
Once you have all your ingredients prepped, sterilize your jars and lids and put one clove, one dill head and one half of a hot pepper into each jar.
Pack each jar full with the cuke spears.
Prepare your pickling brine as per the recipe link above (* note – double the pickling amount as after I had filled 5 jars, I ran out and had to make more) and fill each jar to within a half-inch head space.
Process in a water canning bath for 10 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling), remove and let rest undisturbed for 24 hours. Ensure jars are sealed, label and store for 3 weeks before using.
I can’t wait for pickles to accompany my grilled cheese sammie. I will report back here in early September as to the result so stay tuned!
Hey Deb! I have canned many jars of dill pickles before along with pickling other veggies and different pickles. The one thing I would advise against is opening the pickles too soon to taste test. Even though the recipe says 3-4 weeks, your best results will be after about 6-8 weeks. Pickling season is underway here and wi last through mud September. Our rule of thumb was, do the dills around Labor Day weekend and they would for sure be ready by Thanksgiving. Remember though for us it’s the last Thursday in November. Also, I’m sure your fresh. Peppers wll give off some nice heat but honestly the best ones we’ve found to use have been dried Chile d’Arbol. Or the Japanese dried red peppers. They pack some heat! Always make sure you use plain salt, not iodized, and a bit of alum retains the crunch of the pickle.
Hiya Anne! Thanks for the tip on waiting to open the pickles, I will have to it on my hands 😛 I don’t have any dried chiles, they are hard to find in Canada unless you are near a large metropolis (Toronto) where you can maybe find a Mexican market or Thai market. No worries on the typos either! 🙂 Thanks for popping in!
Oh gosh sorry about the typos. It’s late and I’m on my phone.
that recipe sounds interesting, since I have a few larger cucs (I missed picking many as it was getting dark), I will try slicing them and trying this recipe…..muchos gracias
you are welcome! 🙂