Short Method Dill Pickles


Combine sugar, salt, vinegar and water. Tie spices in a cheesecloth bag; add to vinegar mixture; simmer 15 minutes. Pack cucumbers into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space; put a head of dill in each jar. Heat brine to boiling. Pour boiling hot vinegar mixture over cucumbers, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust caps. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes in boiling-water bath. Yield: about 7 pints.

If you haven't ever canned anything, pick up an inexpensive Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving where the canning supplies are sold. It has lots of important information about canning/preserving in general. Plus, there are lots and lots of recipes for pickles, not just dill.

If you don't want to can pickles, or don't have a canner, you can prepare these recipes up to the canning point and then store them in the refrigerator.

From: nancy-dooley@uiowa.edu (Nancy Dooley)

Long Method Dills


Wash and dry cucumbers. Place a layer of dill and half of the spices in a stone jar or stainless steel container; top with cucumbers. Put another layer of dill and remaining spices over cucumbers. Dissolve salt in vinegar and water. Cool; pour over cucumbers. Cover with dinner plate or glass pie plate (to hold the cucumbers down in the brine). Fill Ball jar with water and use as additional weight on top the plate. Cover and store in a cool place (68 to 72 deg. F.) 2 to 4 weeks. Be certain that the cucumbers are covered with brine at ALL TIMES. If necessary, during the curing process, make additional brine and pour over cucumbers. Remove scum each day. The pickles are cured when well-flavored and even in color. There should be no white spots. Pack pickles into sterilized hot Ball jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Prepare fresh, hot brine: combine 3/4 C. salt, 1 C. vinegar and 4 quarts water; boil 5 minutes; or strain brine in which cucumbers were cured and boil 5 minutes. Pour hot brine over pickles, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust caps. Process pints and quarts 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Yield: about 5 quarts.

From: nancy-dooley@uiowa.edu (Nancy Dooley)

Triple Crown Dill Pickles


Yield: About 4 quarts

These pickles get their name from the fact that they won three awards at the Stanislaus County Fair in California.

Put 1 hot red pepper, 1 cluster fresh dill, and 2 garlic cloves on the bottom of each sterilized jar. Wash cucumbers and pack into sterilized jars. In a saucepan, combine vinegar, water, salt, dill seed, and mustard seed. Bring to a boil and pour over cucumbers, leaving 1/2-inch headroom. Seal and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Source: Blue Ribbon Pickles and Preserves, Maria Polushkin Robbins, p.21, St. Martin's Press.

From: Zlotka@aol.com (Barb Schaller)

Dill Pickles


Soak small pickling cucumbers overnight in cold water.

Place first 5 spices and cucumbers in jar. Boil together water, vinegar, and salt, and pour over cucumbers in jar (leave some room for expansion). Screw lids on tightly. Use a 10-minute hot water bath to seal. Allow to sit for 3 months before opening.

From: The Johnson Family

  • 1 gallon of water
  • 2 cups of pickling vinegar ( Heinz 5% Acetic Acid White)
  • 3/4 cup of pickling salt
  • enough 2-3 inch cucumbers to fill 6-8 quarts
  • Pickling spice
  • garlic cloves
  • bayleafs
  • dill seed or fresh dill Bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil and continue to boil for a good 5 minutes, making sure all the salt has dissolved. Let cool to tepid. Wash and drain cucumbers. Pierce a hole in each end of each cuke using a darning needle or a plastic toothpick. CUT OFF blossom end about 1/16 inch is fine. If you miss this step pickles may be bitter. In sterilized 1 qt. jars put 1 tsp. pickling spice, 1 garlic clove on bottom , 1 garlic clove on top, 1 tsp. dill seed or 1 bunch of fresh dill, 1 small bay leaf and pack with cukes. Pour brine over the cucumbers and seal jars. Usually about 20 minutes boiling in canner with snap top lids. If in doubt run boiling water over the lids and retighten, this will ensure a good seal.

    Better, yes better than bick's. :-)

    From: Earl (gerow@telusplanet.net)

    Too Easy Pickles

  • 2 C. Water
  • 2 C. Vinegar (either cider or white)
  • 3 1/4 tbsp. pickling salt
  • 3 tbsp. sugar
  • garlic cloves
  • fresh dill heads
  • alum

    Wash cucumbers and pack in canning jars. Boil mixture of water, vinegar, salt, and sugar. Pack jars with one head of dill and garlic (by choice) and then cucumbers. Put another dill head and clove of garlic on top with a pinch of alum.

    When boiling mixture, start water for hot water bath. Once vinegar mixture is boiling, pour into jars, leaving 1/2 from top, seal and place in water bath. Once hot water bath begins boiling (keep fire on high), boil jarred pickles for 2 minutes. Shut fire off and leave for another 2 minutes. Take jars out and let seal. Store for 60 days.

    From: RNEBOOTHD@aol.com

    Cherry Dills


    Here in Washington State, turn of the century there were not a lot of grape vineyards. Most of the crisp recipes call for placing a grape leaf in the jar to add crispness to the pickles. My grandmother improvised and found that the leaves from her cherry tree worked just as well, if not better. Makes a wonderful, crunchy pickle.

    Select medium-sized pickling cucumbers. Put layer of dill in bottom of medium crock, then a layer of cucumbers, then a layer of cherry leaves. Keep alternating to the top of the crock. On the very top, put leaves and dill. Over all, pour brine made with 1 cup salt in 6 qts. water. Let stand for 2 weeks. After this brining period, wash pickles and dry. Cut into desired chunks. Make a syrup by mixing 4 c. vinegar, 8 c. sugar, and 1 oz. whole mixed spices, and bringing to a boil. Put cucumber chunks in jars and pour boiling syrup over and seal.

    From: Katie E Green

    Garlic Dill Pickles

    After packing jars full, pour hot boiling brine over cucumbers and seal. Boil the lids for about 5 minutes before using. Be sure rim of jar is really clean or the lids won't seal.

    This recipe was originally intended for filling quart jars, if you use larger jars, adjust herbs and seasonings accordingly.

    From: silencio@netcom.com (Betty E. Kohler)

    Pflugerville Dill Pickles


    Put a sprig of dill in the bottom of quart jar. Pack cucumbers in jar. Place 1 clove garlic and 1 small red pepper in jar. Put 2 tablespoons of salt in jar.

    Make a brine: add one cup vinegar to three cups of water and bring to a boil. Pour solution over pickles.

    Seal jar and place in a pan of boiling water. Be certain that the lids are covered with the water to ensure a good seal. When cucumbers begin to change from dark green to light green, remove from boiling water and cool. Let sit for a mimimum of two weeks before using.

    Origin: Atlan Pfluger, 1960s, Pflugerville, TX

    Shared by: John Poole, May 1995

    Old-Fashioned Pickle Barrel Pickles


    Gently scrub pickles with a vegetable brush and rinse with cool water. Dry thoroughly. In a large stoneware crock or a deep enamel kettle sprinkle in half of pickling spices, dill and garlic over the bottom. Layer cucumbers in crock, filling within 3 inches of top. Sprinkle with remaining pickling spices, dill and garlic. Mix vinegar with salt and 2 quarts of water. Pour over cucumbers, to cover. Weight with a plate and cans, making sure cucumbers are completely submerged. Cover loosely with cheesecloth. Check pickles each day and skim off scum as it forms -- it may not begin to form until fifth day. Do not stir pickles, but make sure they remain completely submerged in brine at all times. If necessary, add additional brine. Leave for 3 to 4 weeks. Pickles will turn an olive-drab color and texture will be soft-crisp and be uniformly translucent. Let stand an additional month to develop flavor, replacing brine as necessary.

    From: rfdesqNOSPAM@relaypoint.net (Robert F. Danelen)

    Pickles by the Bushel


    Fill kitchen sink with half water and one pint of grapefruit juice. Scrub cucumbers in the sink, cut out blemishes and abnormalities with a paring knife. The grapefruit juice helps to clean chemicals and human diseases that may have attached from the people picking the pickles.

    In the bottom of sterilized quart jars place a pepper, a clove of garlic, and half of the grape leaf, then pack the cucumbers as tightly as possible without breaking them. Leave about an inch at the top of the jar, put the other half of the grape leaf and another clove of garlic (make sure you stuff it in so it doesn't come to the top and break the seal). At this point you can also add the stalks of dill to further pack your jar.

    Mix vinegar, water, and salt to make a brine and bring the brine to a boil. In a smaller sauce pan boil your lids in water (the rubber on the lids will swell and help to insure a good seal). Pour the brine into the packed pickle quarts and wipe the rim of the jar. Pull the lids out of the boiling water with a fork, place on top and secure the lid with the ring. Place the jars at least 2 inches apart for them to pop down (when they pop down you will hear it, that means your jar has sealed). Let the jars sit undisturbed for 24 hours. Wait 6 weeks and enjoy.

    This recipe won the Adams County fair in Colorado 1999.

    From: Ken McIntosh (FISHGUYVP@aol.com)

    back to the Pickle Recipe File!