How to Make Dill Pickles and Preserving the Summer’s Bounty
I freeze blackberries, blueberries and strawberries (do not wash them before freezing or they will become mushy). You can pop them in freezer safe containers and freeze them as is, if you do not want added sugar, otherwise, you can prepare them in sugar packs.
We especially love peaches that are frozen in a sugar pack, which is basically a sugar syrup. You can make a light or heavy syrup. We prefer the light one since it is made with less sugar. You add a fruit protector to this mixture that will keep your peaches nice and “peachy” in color in the freezer. What could be better than juicy South Carolina peach slices over homemade vanilla ice cream in January?!
If you are interested in learning how to can and preserve foods, the Ball Blue Book – Guide to Preserving, is a great place to begin. You will also need to invest in a few gadgets and canners to get started, but I promise, the rewards are worth the time and investment and you will save on your food costs the more you rely on your own canned and preserved goods.
I made this recipe for Dill Pickles from the Ball Blue Book. I have always had great luck with their recipes, however, this one needed a bit of tweaking. I bought the smallest Kirby Cukes I could, but they still were too tall to use pint size jars, so I used quart jars and then had to use more of them than the recipe called for. They would not double stack properly in the jars. I also had to make two batches of the pickling mixture. Luckily, I had all of the extras on hand.
Wash and scrub the Kirby Cukes with a vegetable brush
Be flexible with canning because sometimes you will end up with slightly more or slightly less that will fit in a jars after you prepare the recipe. I am always sure to have a few extra jars, lids and rims cleaned, sterilized and ready to go…just in case. It is not always a precise measurement.
I ended up slicing these into quarters instead of halves. They also fit better in the jars when quartered.
I never said that canning wasn’t messy or time consuming
The real science to this is to keep everything hot, sterilized and boiled at the proper temperature and for the proper amount of time (check adjustments for higher altitudes).
Waiting for the tops to “POP”! Notice the change in color of the cukes after the canning process
I hope you will try your hand at home preserving this holiday weekend. You will never want to buy frozen and canned fruits and vegetables, condiments or jams and jellies at the store again!
I hope you have a wonderful long weekend with family, friends and great food!
I can’t wait to try this batch of Dill Pickles!
Have a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend!
Dill Pickles
Note: I could not fit the Kirby Cucumbers that I purchased into pint-size jars and did not double stack them in the quart jars, so I needed 8 quart-size jars and I had to double the amount of the pickling liquid. I also cut my cucumbers into quarters, rather than halves.
Ingredients:
8 pounds 4-to 6-inch Kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise into halves (I cut them into quarters)
3/4 cup sugar (I doubled this amount)
1/2 cup canning salt (I doubled this amount)
1 quart vinegar (I doubled this amount)
1 quart water (I doubled this amount)
3 tablespoons pickling spices (I doubled this amount)
Green or dry dill (1 head dill per jar) * I substituted 2 teaspoons dry drill seed per quart jar
Directions:
1. Wash and scrub cucumbers; drain. Combine sugar, salt, vinegar and water in a large saucepot. Tie spices in a spice bag or cheesecloth tied with kitchen twine; add spice bag to mixture. Simmer 15 minutes.
2. Pack cucumbers into hot, sterilized jars (follow directions in canning book for time and temperature), leaving 1/4-inch headspace; put one head of dill (or dried dill seed) in each jar. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps (that have been washed and sterilized). Process pints and quarts 15 minutes in boiling water canner.
3. Remove carefully from canner. Let sit between 12-24 hours before disturbing.
* My batch of pickles yielded 8 quarts of single layer dill pickles.
Recipe adapted from the Ball Blue Book – Guide to Preserving
What a great post Gwen, loaded with information and beautiful photographs. My mom and grand mom always canned in the summer. This brings back great memories.Wish I had the means and the time to can…. {sigh}
Hi Kathy,
I think it’s more about the time and patience than the means. You will end up saving money in the end once you get all the jars and canning equipment. The only thing you need to replace are the lids for the most part. I hope you give it a try sometime. 🙂
Gwen
Wow your homemade pickles look great. I love a good dill pickle!
I guess you can only do these projects if you have adequate freezer and basement space. Come live in Coronado, and you’ll have problems. Glad to see you two spending the weekend up in the mountains, staying out of trouble. Can’t wait to see my autographed photo of Besh in the buff…I mean in his southern suit 😉
LOL! No, unfortunately, I didn’t get that shot, but you will like what I did send you! Have a great weekend and don’t have too much fun on the patio tonight! 😉
Love how you captured your canning weekend. Every thing looks delicious. Send me some pickles!!:)They look really good!Have a fun and relaxing weekend with Mr. Bunkycooks. xx
Hey Lora,
Yes, that is only a small portion of the canning weekend. We are still at it at 7 pm and will be going strong tonight and tomorrow! We are crazy like that. 😉 Maybe you can come to Atlanta so that you can try some of the pickles!
Gwen
Okay, I was up till 10pm finishing the beans and cleaning the kitchen and 7am this morning I was cutting more beans (a different type), then helping with peaches. In the meantime I prepped the dinner and finished the main course. Just Sayin.
Mr. .,
Yes, you are the bean master! We now have 45 jars of beans put up…almost one jar per week for a year. I know you wanted to get the peaches moving along because you couldn’t wait to get the peaches in the jars with the brandy! 🙂 I’m just calling it as I see it!
Mrs. B
Thanks so much for posting and inspiring me to get to canning! I just posted about a community canning class I took a couple of weekends ago that made me less frightened of the whole process. It is a lot work, but you’re right — it’s so worth it. (I’m in Atlanta too, btw, and really enjoy your blog!)
Hi Rachel,
That was exciting to see the canning class. I did check it out on your blog. I learned about canning by doing it, however, a class would be really helpful, especially for people who are terrified by the process. The pressure canner can be particularly intimidating. Good luck with your canning this year!
Gwen
I definitely need to get into canning next summer! Thanks for sharing the gorgeous pictures Gwen!
that is just great that you have put up so much stuff, the reward later in the winter will be worth it 10 times over, but you know that… great looking pickles
Hi Drick,
Yes, it’s always worth it months from now. The hard part is forcing yourself to keep on going when there’s still so much to do!
Gwen
Wow great post!! I grew my very first vegetable garden this year and am in love with it!! I’m looking into “canning” but really freezing. I was wondering if that book you mentioned talked about freezing as well as canning. Also with the corn – did you just throw it in the freezer like that? Thanks!
Hi Tanya,
Yes, the Ball book talks about freezing as well as canning and gives directions for freezing both fruits and vegetables. Some fruits and veggies can be frozen as is, like berries and corn. We literally put the fresh cut con into freezer safe containers (you can also use freezer zip lock bags) and freeze them for later use as a side dish or in soup. I try to use them within 6 months. We also freeze the corn and the pulp for use in stocks and soups. We try not to waste anything. Good luck!
Gwen
I like these collections of pickle making. Those are truly a great knowledge for me.
OMG You really do a lot of canning! GREG
Wow! What a lovely and informative post. I enjoyed the pictures and hearing about all the different fruits/veggies that you preserve. Thanks for sharing this pickle recipe too! I adore dill pickles, and I would love to make my own. I hope you are having a nice day. I’m enjoying my Labor Day with baking and friends. Much love from Austin!
Wow, you were busy over the holiday weekend. I know you will be glad you did all this when you pop open the first jar in the winter months. Your pickles look great and so do the rest of your jars.
If you want your pickles to stay crisp, you must use them the same day they are picked, TRIM OFF THE BLOSSOM END, use pickle crisp (optional) or a grape leaf in the jar. There is an alternative method of processing these days, Low Temperature Pasteurization (see link), which keeps them crisp. It takes a full half hour, but the temperature does not go above 180-185 F, so the pickles aren’t cooked as much. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/low_temp_pasteur.html