Let me just preface this post by stating right up front that I am by no means a canning expert. I am a beginning canner, at best. I got into canning this summer when I got picked to host a Ball Canning Party thru House Party. They sent me everything I needed to get started canning (for FREE), and lots of instruction materials, recipes, etc. I have canned dill pickles, bread & butter pickles, various jams, and apple butter. Everything I've canned has turned out fantastic -except for one little experiment (salsa), which shall never be mentioned again. Yes, it was THAT bad.
I have a friend with a little girl who LOVES pickles. It's more of an obsession, really. They're like crack to her. Yes, Megan, this post is for you! Here is my super-easy, quick tutorial for how to make your very own dill pickles.
MATERIALS:
- 7 pounds pickling cukes (these are not your standard cucumber - they are specific for pickling, without the wax, and much smaller. You'll need to make a trip to your local farmers market, or sometimes Whole Foods stocks them. I get mine at Georgia's Market in downtown Plano)
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups vinegar (make sure it is 5% acidity)
- 1/2 cup Ball Kosher Dill Pickle Mix (I got mine at Kroger)
- 4 Ball Quart (32 oz) Jars with lids & bands (Kroger stocks them)
Put your quart jars, lids and bands in the dishwasher and run it thru a quick cycle to wash them and heat them up. If you don't want to mess with this, you can also just boil them all in a pot for a while. Either way works. You are going to be putting boiling hot liquid in 'em, so they should be warm to the touch first, so the glass doesn't shatter. I'll be honest and tell you that I've canned before without getting the jars warm, and not one of 'em cracked, but that's just me. Sometimes I like to live dangerously.
Put your cukes in the sink (yeah, you might want to scrub the sink first) and let them soak for about 5 minutes in cold water. Then give 'em all a good scrubbing to get all the dirt and yuck off.
Once they've had their bath, cut the ends off the cukes, then cut them into whatever shape you prefer and stuff 'em into the jars. I mix it all up, and leave some whole, cut some into spears, some in half. There's no rhyme or reason, that's just how I roll. You will want to really CRAM them in there, and leave as little space in between as possible. I've found it kinda helps to have all shapes and sizes, so I can stuff 'em in there like a puzzle and get it as tight and as many in there as will fit. It's OK - they'll taste fantastic no matter what shape they're in. Why do you want to stuff them in there so tight? Because these babies will shrink up when they're boiled and there will be all this extra space in there - you want to minimize that as much as possible.
Combine your water, vinegar and Kosher Dill Pickle Mix in a medium saucepan and heat to a boil. Once it's boiling, ladle it into your quart jars that are now packed with cukes. Fill it just up to where the screw-on rim starts. Stick a plastic knife down into the jar and move it around gently to remove any air bubbles that might be in there (sometimes I forget to do this, and it turns out just fine). Wipe the top and sides with a clean cloth, then add the lid and band. Don't feel like you have to tighten that band on there really tight. The band is not what keeps the seal, it's the lid that does all the work. It will have a vacuum effect, and be sealed up really tight even without the band. Just screw it on 'til it stops, don't tighten it hard.
Add all your jars into a bath of boiling water. The water should completely cover the jars and the lids. (I use my husbands big chili pot). Cover the pot and let it boil gently for 20 minutes. When 20 minutes are up, remove them from the boiling water and set them on the counter to cool. You will begin to hear the lids "popping". That means they're sealing down. That's a good sound. You want that. If you have any concerns that they're not sealed properly, just touch the top of the lid. If it's sealed, the middle will have a tiny indent. If not, the middle will stick up just like a little bubble. If one doesn't seal (this has never happened to me), you have the option of sticking it back into the boiling water for another 5 minutes or so until it seals, or you could just stick that jar in the fridge. The pickles will keep up to 3 months in the refrigerator if you don't do the whole boiling water bath-thing. If they are canned, they'll last up to a year. Although trust me, once your family tastes them they won't last anywhere near a year!
Here's the hardest part to this whole thing......you have to wait 6 weeks until you eat them. It's torture, believe me. You will be counting down the days. I'll be honest and just say that for my first batch I caved after 4 weeks. I just couldn't wait any longer. They were AMAZING! I have given quarts to friends and family members and they've all loved them. Now, maybe they're just being nice. But I don't think so. My boys like these homemade pickles even better than those expensive Claussens. Now, that's really saying something.
This is really easy to do. Do not be intimidated. If I can do it, you can to. Good luck!
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