Cole and I made pickles and they turned out to be delicious! I have heard that making pickles can be very tricky, especially the texture- they sometimes turn out soft. So...I was very nervous to try ours but in the end there was no reason for me to be worried:)
A few tricks my dad told me he heard from an Armstrong woman (who plans to make the best pickles in Canada!) is that pickles are most crunchy if they are canned on the day the cucumbers were picked. The second tip is to not boil the jars with the cucumbers in them. Apparently if you don't do this you need to wait a minimum of 3 months before you eat them. We didn't follow either of these tips, which is partly why I was nervous! But Cole thinks that submerging the cucumbers in ice water probably played a big role in helping to give our pickles such a nice texture.
We followed a really simple recipe that doesn't require fancy canning equipment. I have basically copied the recipe. The only change is to make the brine with more vinegar. You can find the original recipe here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Dill-Pickles/
Note: You are supposed to wait at least 3 weeks after pickling to eat the pickles.
Ingredients
8 pounds cucumbers (cut into spears if too large for the jars)
5 cups white vinegar
12 cups water
2/3 cup pickling salt (we used regular table salt and it worked fine)
16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
fresh dill weed
Equipment it's helpful to have (
though we didn't ):
Boiling-water canner.
1)
Chill the cucumbers.
Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice when it melts. This took all the ice in my freezer and an additional bag that I had to run out to get.
2)
Boil the brine.
In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil. Note: Although the ingredients called for pickling salt, we used regular table salt, and made sure it was completely dissolved in the liquid. This picture was taken when most of the brine was already in jars with cukes, btw; initially it filled the entire pot. But check out the briny goodness encrusted on the sides of the pot!
3)
Sterilize the jars and lids.
Wash 8 (1 quart ) canning jars, bands, and lids in hot soapy water and rinse. Dry bands and set aside. Place the jars and lids in 180-degree (near-boiling) water for at least 10 minutes. Also sterilize the tongs you use to put them in the boiling water and take them back out. Don't touch them with your hands after you sterilize them. Keep the jars and lids hot until used.
4)
Load the jars with spices, cucumbers, brine and seal.
Right after you take the jars out of the sterilizing bath, place in each 2 half-cloves of garlic, some dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and some more dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Leave headspace of 1/4 inch. Make sure nothing is hanging over the side. Remove air bubbles by sliding a nonmetallic spatula between the jar and food. Clean rim and threads of jar with a damp cloth. Center heated lid on jar. Screw band down to "fingertip tight." NOTE: If they are too tight, the lids deform when the steam tries to escape during processing (next step).
5) Process sealed jars in the boiling water bath.
Process quart jars for 15 minutes.
a. It's suggested to use a rack to keep jars from touching canner bottom and to permit heat circulation; we didn't have the right size rack, so we didn't do this .
b. It's suggested to put jars into a canner that contains simmering water. We just used the three biggest and heaviest pots we had.
c. After adding jars, add boiling water to bring water 1 to 2 inches above jar tops. We couldn't get water above the jar tops, but comments I read online said this wasn't necessary.
d. Bring water to a rolling boil. Set timer and process for recommended time.
e. Remove jars from canner immediately after timer sounds.
f. Cool for 12-24 hours on a rack or towel. Or on the counter, as you see here.
g. Do not retighten screw bands after processing.
h. After jars are cooled, remove screw bands, wipe jars, label and date.
i. Store jars in a cool, dark place.
j. For best quality, use within one year.
