Dill Pickles - Blue Ribbon

By kelseyll

Ingredients

• Brine:
• INGREDIENTS Nutrition
• SERVINGS
• 32 32
• YIELD
• 7 quart jars
• UNITS
• US
• 7 wide-mouth quart jars, lids & rings
• fresh dill, heads & several inches of stems shaken free of bugs
• cucumber, washed, scrubbed
• 1 garlic clove (or more)
• 8 1⁄2 cups water
• 2 1⁄4 cups white vinegar
• 1 ⁄2 cup pickling salt

Details

Adapted from food.com

Preparation

Step 1

DIRECTIONS

GET ALL OF THIS GOING BEFORE FILLING THE JARS.
Wash 7 quart jars in hot, soapy water (or dishwasher), rinse and fill with hot water; set aside.
Fill canning kettle half-full with hottest tap water; set on burner over high heat.
In a medium saucepan, fit lids and rings together, cover with water, bring to a simmer.
In a large saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to boil; turn off the heat; set aside.
FILL JARS: place a layer of dill at the bottom of each jar, along with one garlic clove (if used), then TIGHTLY load the cukes into the jar to the NECK of the jar (depending on size you may get two nice layers with a few small cukes in the top--)---squeeze cukes into the jar tightly--uniform size helps; add a few TINY spriglets of dill at the top, too, and another garlic clove if desired.
Once jars are loaded, pour in the brine leaving half-inch head space in each jar.
Add lid and ring to each jar, tightening evenly.
Place jars into canner with water JUST to the necks of the jars.
Bring water ALMOST to a boil (about 15 minutes--depending on how fast it heats up).
Remove jars, set on a dish towel on the kitchen counter, cover with another dish towel & let cool.
Check for seal (indented lid), label jars or lids, store in cool dark cellar or cupboard.
NOTES: When washing/scrubbing cukes, sort them into piles by size. This really helps make your jars look nicer, if you have uniform sizes (and this impresses the judges too!). And makes for easier packing, too.

NOTES:
I made these this summer and just opened them this weekend. My kids ate 3 jars over the weekend. I used freeze dried dill and the garlic that is in a jar and already chopped up. To make sure they stayed crisp I soaked them in ice and picking salt for a couple of hours before putting them in a jar. They have an awesome crunch.

For optimum shelf-stable safety of any fresh-pack dill pickles, the jars should be processed in a boiling water bath covered by at least an inch of water. Ten minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts.

Heat the water enough to maintain 180º to 185º F water temperature for 30 minutes. Check with a candy or jelly thermometer to be certain that the water temperature is at least 180ºF during the entire 30 minutes. Temperatures higher than 185ºF may cause unnecessary softening of pickles.