A few people have asked for the pickle recipe I used in canning cucumbers this week.  My recipe came straight from Complete Guide to Home Canning, Part 6, which is where most of my canning/freezing recipes come from.  I found mine for free at the local extension office.

A quick disclaimer:  If you're hoping for dill pickles like you buy at the grocery, this isn't the recipe.  I have yet to find a recipe that makes them taste like store-bought.  On the other hand, everything in the store seems to have Polysorbate-80 as an ingredient.  I have no idea if that's what makes the taste difference or not, but I prefer plain old sugar.  Anywho, these pickles are delicious, but have a little different twang to them.  I wanted to be sure you knew!

Oh, and it DOES make a difference to cut off the blossom end.  Your pickles will be much firmer.  Again, these aren't going to be quite as crisp as Vlasic pickles, but done correctly, they shouldn't be limp either.  And, cut the cucumbers up as you like - slices, spears, wholes.  These were cut into slices because they were a tad bigger than the typical 3-5" pickling cucumbers.  Plus, the jar holds more this way and jars are expensive!

Okay, on to the recipe....

Quick Fresh-Pack Dill Pickles

• 18 lbs of 3- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers
• 2 gals water
• 1¼ cups canning or pickling salt
• 1½ qts vinegar (5 percent)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 quarts water
• 2 tbsp whole mixed pickling spice
• 5 tbsp whole mustard seed (2 tsp per quart jar)
• 21 heads of fresh dill (3 heads per quart jar)
  or 7 tbsp dill seed (1 tbsp per quart jar)

Yield: 7 quarts

Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.

Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼-inch of stem attached. Dissolve ¾ cup salt in 2 gals water. Pour over cucumbers and let stand 12 hours. Drain. Combine vinegar, ½ cup salt, sugar and 2 quarts water. Add mixed pickling spices tied in a clean white cloth. Heat to boiling. Fill jars with cucumbers. Add 2 tsp mustard seed and 1 tbsp dill per quart. Cover with boiling pickling solution, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1 or use the low- temperature pasteurization treatment. For more information see "Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment" .

This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 1994.

Reviewed June 2006.