Dill pickles can be a pain to can. A lot of recipes take days for the brining process. If you're swimming in pickling cukes and don't want everything sitting around for days on end as your pickles are in process, then try this recipe from the Ball Blue Book. We've found it to be our favorite recipe for good sandwich pickles.
Hamburger Dills
This recipe makes enough liquid for 7 pint jars.
Wash and drain your cucumbers. No need to peel them. Just cut them into thin slices (about 1/4" thick). Do not use the very ends of the cucumbers.
Place your cucumber slices in pint jars.
Add in 2 heads of dill, 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed, and 2 peppercorns for each jar.
Meanwhile, combine 4 1/2 cups of water, 4 cups of vinegar, and 6 Tablespoons of canning salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.
Once your jars are filled, ladle the hot liquid into the jars leaving 1/4" headspace.
Adjust lids and rings.
Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.
Easy!
I will add a few tips. If you can possibly grow your own dill, DO! It's expensive in the store and at home it will produce well and will come back in following years. Well worth the initial time and money to plant.
Also, if you wait until cucumbers are prolific in everyone's gardens to do your shopping, you may struggle to find the correct ingredients. I try to stock up on mustard seed in particular as that is almost always off the shelves at this time of year.
Lastly, you can use any cucumbers to make pickles. But if you use garden cukes you'll find the seeds to be much larger. Ideally you should plant pickling cukes and harvest them when the cucumbers are about 4 inches long.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
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