No summer canning season is complete without at least one batch of cucumber pickling. Now, my fav is a nice and crunchy Kosher dill pickle, and boy do I have a recipe for y'all today. Seriously, it doesn't get any better than this one, and I have tried my fair share. After all, everyone needs a decent dill pickle canning recipe. Look no further folks because I've got your back with this one!
This particular dill pickle canning recipe will work for whole canning pickles, spears, and sliced; but if you're going to do the spears and sliced route I would eat them fairly quickly. It's not that they lose their flavor, it's just after too long they seem to lose their crunchiness and to me that just makes a bad pickle.
To me, the best way to use this dill pickle canning recipe is to use baby pickling cucumbers stuffed as tight as you can get them in a half gallon canning jar. YES! 'they' sell half gallon canning jars. I'm slow to the game as usual and I spent years canning before I found half gallon canning jars at the store. I supposed I could have looked online, but then I would have had to know I was looking for them and I didn't even know how awesome they were until I saw them up close and personal! But they're worth every penny when it comes to canning Kosher Dill Pickles for sure!
I like canning dill pickles for many reason; mostly because they taste awesome, but also because they're super quick and easy to get canned. When the garden really gets to hopping it can be mighty difficult to stay on top of the preserving, so I get a little excited when something comes in that I can preserve all 'lickety split' like 😁
I have two pressure canners that double as water bath canners, but these half gallon jars require a much larger canner, so I keep on hand my speckled blue enamel water bath canner. In all my years of canning I've only had to purchase two. And if I was being totally honest the first one only bit the dust because I used and abused it to no end ~ poor thang! LOL
I know it seems strange to most, but anything I water bath can gets inverted to insure proper sealing of my lids. It's just a product of being trained in the art of canning by an 'old timer', I guess.
Easy Kosher Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- Fresh or dried dill
- cucumbers, washed and dried
- cloves of garlic
- hot peppers, optional (have I mentioned we love hot and spicy foods?)
- Brine: Boil 8 1/2 cups water. 2 1/4 cups white vinegar, and 1/2 cup pickling salt
Directions
Place two garlic cloves, chopped hot peppers and a pinch of dill in the bottom of sterilized jars. Tightly pack cucumbers into jars then top with brine, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Add lid and rim. Fill water bath canner about half full and bring to a boil. Add jars making sure water is just to the neck of the jars. Bring water to just before a boil (about 15 minutes). remove jars from canner, invert, and set a towel over jars and let cool over night. Pickles are ready to eat immediately.
We haven't really had a decent crop of cucumbers in a couple of years so dill pickles haven't been on the canning list. I was super excited to get a couple batches canned this year. While they will hardly last us through the winter, we will certainly savor every single pickle; even if they are rationed to the highest degree, lol.
Another crop and another harvest, we're really filling the larder this year and I am forever grateful. Even with all the hard work and downright exhaustion at this point, I'm happy to be able to do what we do. To know where our food comes from and to buffer our grocery budget just a tad. There are so many lessons to learn and teaching moments for our children when it comes to growing, cooking and preserving your own food. I'm truly blessed to be able to share this journey with my children. 😊
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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