Homemade Dill Pickles - Customizable!
These dill pickles are great as-is, but feel free to customize the “per jar” ingredients used to your own tastes. Add more garlic - or skip it - add other spices, etc. Just don’t alter the brine recipe! This one is safe, and changing water/salt/vinegar proportions can screw with that!
Servings: 12 Pints of Pickles
Calories: 77kcal
Equipment
- 12 Clean, sterilized pint size canning jars and rings
- 12 New, never-used, sterilized canning lids
- Jar Lifter, Canning Funnel
- LARGE pot to process them in
Ingredients
- 6.5 lbs Pickling Cucumbers Washed/scrubbed well.
Brine:
- 12 cups White Vinegar, 5% acidity
- 12 cups Water
- 1 ½ cups Pickling Salt
Per pint jar (Double this if using quart jars):
- 2 Garlic Cloves Peeled and cut in half
- 1 head Fresh Dill or 1 teaspoon dill seed
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper Corns
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ¼-½ Jalapeno Pepper Sliced. See post for other options.
Instructions
Prepare Your Jars
- Wash your cucumbers in cold water, scrubbing well to remove any dirt.
- Slice your cucumbers into whatever form you prefer. We like to do spears for both pint and quart jars, selecting pickles that perfectly fit the height of each. Larger cucumbers can be cut down to size, if needed.
- Fill your LARGE pot with at least 6″ of water - you need enough water to keep the water level higher than the jars when processing... while still leaving enough room for the volume of the jars. Bring to a boil over high heat, as you prepare your pickle brine.
- In another pot (NOT the canning pot!), combine vinegar, water, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring well to dissolve the salt.
- As the brine heats up, measure your “per jar” ingredients into your sterilized jars. Arrange your prepared cucumbers into the canning jars, packing them tightly.
- Once brine comes to a boil, use a canning funnel to pour hot brine into prepared jars, leaving about ½″ head space. Use a bubble remover if you like - I’ll usually poke a sterilized chopstick down to the bottom of each jar to release any trapped air.
- Before you add the lid to each jar, wipe the edge of top of the jar with a clean, wet towel to remove any brine. Top each with a new, sterilized lid, and carefully screw on a clean lid ring. I like to use a kitchen towel for this, the jars are HOT!
Process Your Pickles
- Carefully place your jars of pickles into the boiling water bath, process jars for 15 minutes.
- You’ll likely need to do this in batches - top up the water as needed, and bring back to a rolling boil before processing the next batch of jars.
- Use a jar lifter to CAREFULLY remove the pickle jars from the water bath, set somewhere heat safe where they won’t be disturbed.
- For best results, remove the jar rings after the jar lids pop - sucking the center of each lid down to form a seal as they cool to room temperature.
- Carefully wipe the tops and threads of the jar with a clean wet cloth to remove any residue, then allow the jars and the lids to fully dry. This is the easiest way to prevent the rings from rusting.
- Allow to cool overnight, before replacing the jar rings.
Notes
Important: Nutritional information shown is per pint of pickles - brine included - NOT individual servings. Who even knows what a serving of pickles is?
Storing Your Pickles
The next day, check to make sure that all of the jars achieved a proper seal after the canning process: Try to push down in the middle of each lid. If it “pops”, it did not seal.
Any jars that didn’t seal should be considered refrigerator pickles, and used within a few weeks.
Leave the jars alone for at least a few days, to allow the flavors to permeate the cucumbers.
Store in a cool, dark place (ideally) for up to 1 year, chill well before eating.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Pint - Brine Included | Calories: 77kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.04g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 14169mg | Potassium: 349mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 196IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 1mg
