Dill Pickles - Crunchy

By lindaauman

Ingredients

• 8 lbs of 3-4 inch pickling cucumbers
• 2 gals water
• 1 1/4 cups canning or pickling salt
• 1 1/2 qts vinegar (5 percent)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 quarts water
• 2 T whole mixed pickling spice
• whole mustard seed (2 tsp to 1 tsp per pint jar)
• fresh dill (1 1/2 heads per pint jar) or 4 1/2 T dill seed (1 1/2 tsp per
• pint jar)

Details

Adapted from simplycanning.com

Preparation

Step 1

Wash your cucumbers and thinly slice off the blossom end. (the blossoms have an enzyme that will make your pickles soft)

Add 3/4 cup salt dissolved in 2 gallons water. Soak cucumbers in water for 12 hours. Drain and get your canning supplies together.

Gather your canning supplies

water bath canner
pint canning jars
canning seals and rings
jar lifter
canning funnel
large pot
bowls
large spoons
sharp knife
towels and dish cloths
Pot or kettle for the brine
ladle

Get the water in your canner heating while you prepare your pickles.

Combine vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, sugar, and 2 quarts of water. Place pickling spices in a cheesecloth and place in your vinegar brine. Heat to boiling.

Tip: I use my stainless steel teapot to make my brine, it makes filling the jars super easy!

For more tips and canning safety instruction see Simply Canning... the book.

Fill jars with drained cucumbers. Add:

1 tsp mustard seed and
1 head fresh dill or 1 tsp dill seed per pint.

Fill jars with hot pickling brine. Leave a 1/2 inch head space.

Process in water bath canner for *10 minutes.

*Processing time will vary according to your elevation. Read why altitude adjustments here.

Altitude - processing time:

0-1000 ft - 10 minutes

1000-6000 ft - 15 minutes

over 6000 ft - 20 minutes