Yesterday was my first day of the year full of the manic joy that is canning season. My garden unexpectedly delivered a colander full of pickling cucumbers.
Some of the cucumbers had been doing a good job of hiding and were pretty huge. My job was clear.
Pickle them while they’re fresh! The large ones were sliced thin for hamburger dill slices in order to make them fit into jars. I was rewarded for my work with two quarts and four pints of our homemade Garlic Dill Pickle recipe.
I know a lot of folks out there are intimidated by canning. I understand it… The food police have scared us with their constant semi-subliminal message that the only food safe to eat comes hermetically sealed in jars and boxes barely touched by human hands.
Look at all the things that can go wrong, botulism, salmonella, mold, etc… The truth is, though, that canning is an incredibly safe and economical way to provide outstanding food for your table.
I’ve put together a little primer on making garlic dill pickles; by far the easiest thing outside of jam to can.
Dill Pickle Recipe Primer
There are really only three things you need to do to ensure successful pickles.
- Keep everything clean.
- Use the freshest produce available.
- Keep your hands impeccably clean. As in Howard Hughes clean.
For starters, you’ll need intact glass canning jars that come with new two part lids. The ones with hinge lids are pretty, but they don’t seal as consistently…
For now, leave those for short term storage. How many will you need?
That depends on how many pickling cucumbers you have. One peck of pickling cucumbers yields approximately 12 quart jars of pickles.
I’ll give the recipe in a “per quart” format. That will make it easy for you to scale up to however many cukes you have available.
…And forgive me if this sounds obvious, but to make sure you’ll get nice, crunchy pickles you need to buy pickling cucumbers. Salad or slicing cucumbers, while delicious, don’t hold up to the canning process as well and yield softer pickles.
They’re not bad, they’re just not as good as they could be. How do you know you’re in possession of pickling cucumbers? If you slice one open you should not see many seeds; if there are seeds they should be small.
The skin of a pickling cucumber is more delicate than a slicing or salad cucumber. When perfectly fresh, the pickling cucumber’s skin should yield easily to a knife or your teeth. (Well, you have to test the quality of your product, don’t you?)
To store the pickles, put them in a single layer on a shelf in a cool, dry place. A closed cupboard or basement shelf is perfect. Homemade pickles are at their delicious best when served super cold.
Now I’m going to tell you another thing that seems contrary to common sense. Remove the rings from the jars when you set them on your shelves to store them.
Remember I told you the rings are there just to hold the lid in place? Left on the jar they can actually prevent you from knowing a problem exists both before and after storage.
After processing, the ring has performed the duty it was meant to do. It held the lid in place long enough to form a seal.
Removing the ring allows you to inspect the seal before storage (and refrigerate any jars with questionable seals.) It can give you an obvious sign that things inside the jar have gone awry.
In ten years of canning, I’ve only had one item go bad. It was a jar of blueberry jam.
I had laughed at my Grandma’s advice to leave the ring off, but had listened to her and done it anyway. I went down to my basement to retrieve a jar of something-or-other and saw that the lid had blown off of a jar of blueberry jam.
That is an indicator of a bad thing. Now, there was hairy mold and it was slightly off-smelling, too, but I might not have checked it over so carefully had that lid not blown off.
Save yourself some trouble and do what my Grandma said! Grandma was so right!
Which brings me to what most people fear about canning; contamination. Pickles are pretty fool-proof with their super high levels of vinegar and salt, but ever so occasionally, things can go wrong.
I’ve never had a problem with pickles, but I am not fool enough to think I’m impervious. Thankfully, it’s pretty obvious when home-canned goods go bad.
If you see any of the following signs, or you even suspect a problem, throw it out. Don’t be a martyr!
Signs your canned goods have gone bad:
- The lid has popped up and/or makes a clicky sound when pressed down in the center.
- The lid is off the jar entirely.
- When removed, the lid offers no resistance and/or makes no sound.
- There is hairy growth on top of the food in the jar.
- The contents of the jar smell “off” or otherwise foul or bad.
Garlic Dill Pickles
Rate RecipeIngredients
For each quart of pickles you will need:
For the spices:
- 3-4 heads fresh dill or 1 Tablespoon dried whole dill seed- not weed.
- 2-3 large cloves garlic peeled
- 12 whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 a small bay leaf
- 1/4 teaspoon whole mustard seed
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 3 dried habaneros optional
For the brine:
- 1 cup cider or white wine vinegar Cider gives you a more classic pickle flavor, white wine gives you a more delicate pickle.
- 2 cups water
- 1 Tablespoon pickling salt That’s basically any non-iodized salt. Kosher salt works well here.
For the pickles:
- 2 pounds pickling cucumbers
Instructions
- Clean and sterilize your jars, lids and rings and a ladle or heat-proof measuring cup with a handle, and a chopstick or butterknife. You can do this one of two ways. Either wash in your dishwasher and use the heat dry cycle or immerse jars and rings, ladle and butterknife in boiling water for five minutes and hold in the hot water while preparing the cucumbers. To sterilize the lids with boiling water, place them in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them. I opt for the dishwasher. Getting a dishwasher changed my canning life!
- To make the pickles, scrub the cucumbers and take a small slice off the blossom end of the cucumber. Taking off about 1/16″ from the end of the cucumber is a little more crunchy pickle insurance. If left intact, the blossom end can release a compound that causes soft pickles.
- If needed, trim cucumbers down to a size that will fit in your jars.
- Now for the fun part (and I mean that!)
- Eyeball your cucumbers and make a rough estimate of how many jars you’ll be filling. Line your jars up on the counter and into each of them put the spices and garlic listed above in the quantities given. Pack the cucumbers in on top of the spices and garlic. Don’t squish the cucumbers when packing them in, but you don’t have to be shy about trying to make the most of the space available in the jar, either. Leave 1/2″ of space between the top cucumber and the rim of the jar. This is called headspace and it is important in creating the seal that stands between your delicious food and nasty bacteria and mold.
- Scale the brine recipe to the appropriate level (Are you making 4 quarts? Use 4 cups cider vinegar, 8 cups water, 4 Tablespoons pickling salt, etc…) Add all brine ingredients to a large stockpot and bring to a boil. While still boiling, pour (I use a ladle for the job) into cucumber filled jars. Again, respect the 1/2″ headspace.
- You may find that you need to pour a little more brine in after it settles into the spaces. This is fine. When you’ve brined all your jars, gently insert your sterile chopstick or butterknife down the sides of the jar to release air bubbles. If you need to add more brine at this point to reach the 1/2″ mark, do so.
- *If you have leftover brine, don’t sweat it. You can save it in the fridge for your next batch of pickles or use it to cook beet greens, or any number of other things. It’s better to make more than you think you need so that you don’t have to scramble to prepare more brine before processing your pickles!
- Using a clean paper towel, gently wipe the rims of the jars, place a clean lid on the jar and thread a ring onto the jar to keep the lid in place. Don’t crank on the ring with brute force. It’s not the ring that is protecting your food. The ring merely holds the lid in place until a good seal forms. Just turn it until it provides resistance. This will hold the lid on tight enough to prevent water from entering the jar, but loose enough that air can be forced out of it during processing.
- When all your jars are filled, turn your attention to processing. You’ll need a pot with a tight fitting lid deep enough to allow boiling water one inch higher that your tallest jar when full of jars. To test this, place filled jars (with tightened lids and rings) in the pot. Fill with water to one inch higher than the tallest jar. Leaving the water in the pot, carefully remove jars. Place pot over burner, cover, and bring to a full boil. When water reaches a rolling boil, carefully place jars in the pot. (It is helpful, but not strictly necessary, to have a spiffy rack for raising and lower jars in the pot. You can also make due with a long silicone oven mitt or a jar lifter- another nifty canning gadget.)
- Put the lid on your pot and bring water back to a rolling boil. Once it reaches a rolling boil, start timing! For quart jars you process them for 20 minutes. For pints, process for 15 minutes. Do not underprocess these jars. The processing time is your safety mechanism. It kills nasties that might be on or in the jars and it kick-starts the melding of the flavors. Contrary to what seems might happen, underprocessing can result in mushy, soft pickles. Ewwwww.
- When processing time is up, carefully remove jars to a sturdy cooling rack over a dish towel. As the jars cool, you’ll occasionally hear a “pop” sound. Don’t freak out. This is a good thing. This is the sound of the jars sealing. Allow the jars to cool overnight. In the morning, use a damp paper towel to wipe down the jars and check the seals. If you press gently in the center of the lid it should not give at all and should not pop back up. If you have some seals that failed, don’t worry. Just store those in your fridge! They’re still good to eat, they’re just not shelf-stable. Label your jars with their contents and the date they were made. They will be ready to eat in 6 weeks.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Reader's Thoughts...
alletta says
This sounds like a great recipe. How do you keep your dills crispy while your waitting for more to get to the right size. Thanks alletta
Rebecca says
Thanks, Alletta!
My usual insurance for crispy dills is making sure I pickle them the same day they’re picked and that I trim the blossom end off to remove the enzymes that cause them to soften or ferment in the brine. Another way to get the job done is to use Pickle Crisp (it’s sold in most stores near the canning goods and has instructions on the label explaining how to use it.) I’ve heard that adding a fresh fig or grape leaf to each jar has a similar effect.
Annamarie Landolt says
When we made bread and butter pickles to can recipe said to spinkle canning salt onthem put in fridge for 2 hrs then rinse well and let drain in a colaunder ,why don’t garlic pickles have the sane process if you are cutting ingredients spears or slices?
Rebecca says
Hi Annamarie- Bread and Butter Pickles are almost always in slices and the salting/rinsing/draining process helps keep them from continued fermentation during process which theoretically gives you a crunchier end pickle. You could do that with these dills, but if you’re leaving them whole, it’s unnecessary. 🙂
Pam says
Can distilled white vinegar substitute the cider vinegar in this recipe?
Rebecca says
You bet! I personally prefer cider vinegar but you’re welcome to use distilled white in its place. The end result will taste slightly different, though. 🙂
Anita says
I am always a nervous nellie with canning. Am I doing it right? Is everything clean enough? But this recipe is foolproof. Great step by step instructions with an explanation for each step. I had nine pints and they are beautiful. I did add an extra garlic clove and an extra pepper pod (love the kick of each). I can’t wait.
Rebecca says
That makes me so happy, Anita! Thanks for taking the time to rate the recipe and let me know it worked for you!
Kristol says
Thank you for this receipe and instructions! Just prepaired my 1st batch of pickles, they look great!!!
Rebecca says
You’re very welcome, Kristol! Thanks for letting me know you liked it!
Darren says
I have read through many of the comments concerning if this is a canning or refrigerator recipe. I believe it a canning one based on the storage instructions. Is is safe to use a 1:2 ratio of vinegar to water for canning these pickles? I have never used less than 50:50.
REBECCA G COX says
Is this hot water bathed or pressure canned? Directions unclear. .
Rebecca says
Hi Rebecca- While the directions do not use the phrase “boiling water bath” the procedure described is definitely boiling water bathing since no psi is specified and you’re to cover the jars with boiling water by at least an inch. 🙂
Cliff says
I am out of whole garlic cloves but have everything else on hand. Can I use minced garlic instead of cloves at the same rate?
Rebecca says
I would not use pre-minced garlic, Cliff. The stuff in jars has already been treated with preservatives and has lost some of the flavour, which I think would make it lose more… if you need to go with a non-whole clove option, you’re probably better off using dried minced garlic which weirdly packs more punch. 🙂
Arianna says
Very thorough recipe!
Rebecca says
Thanks so much, Arianna!
Mike Lyons says
This is an excellent recipe. Made enough for 6 pints, have over 20dozen orders, and have been told be several people that they are the best tasting pickles they have ever tried. But I used apple cider vinegar. Sorry, like to experiment.
Nicole Dillon says
First time making garlic dill pickles. This is a great recipe, not too salty, gives a little kick with the crushed red pepper, perfect crisp pickles, and finishes with a perfect hint of garlic! Definitely keeping this for future pickles!
Rebecca says
I’m so glad you like them, Nicole!
Timothy Carleton says
I need neither the ten page narrative, nor the useless steps like “here comes the fun part,” nor the obvious things like use of the counter. All that useless fluff makes reading and following the recipe extremely frustrating.
Rebecca says
Nice to meet you, too, Timothy. 🙂
Terry Mooney says
So I followed your recipe , every thing looked great. The Brine was terrific . So I bathed the quarts , processed the quarts for 20 minutes. I. Popped 1 quart a week later. I WAS disappointed. The pickles were not crisp. Rather Soggy. What did I do wrong? All the cans had.popped.
Rebecca says
Hi Terry- I’m so sorry this didn’t work out for you. You may have had a bad batch of cucumbers… did you specifically use freshly picked cucumbers of a variety that were meant for pickling? Slicing and seedless cucumbers are not meant for canning/pickling, so that may have been an issue. Alternately, you may have had slightly older cucumbers or maybe didn’t slice the enzyme bearing blossom end away from the cucumber. Even with all of my years of experience, there is the occasional batch of cucumbers that disappoint me. 🙁
Terry says
Trying your recipe now. Wish me luck. I’ll let you know how it turns out
Terry
Rebecca says
Good luck, Terry! I hope you like them like we do!
Nancy Rowe says
Do u not use any Pickeling alum for crispyness??
Used to help my dad years ago and remember alum ?
Rebecca says
Hi Nancy- I do not use pickling alum. I’ve not had a chance to play with it, but maybe some day I will!
Aquaria says
I’m the out of control pickle habit person, so I’ll make 12 quarts. For now. I think I’ll have some fun and make whole, spears and slices. Why not cover all the bases of my pickle fetish? Might make some more before the season is out, for the winter ahead. Nothing worse than having to go to the store for their nasty pickles when I need one for a sandwich or burger.
Am I the only one who gets an upset stomach from store-bought pickles? Something in them doesn’t agree with me.
Rebecca says
HAHAHAHAHHAA. Good call. I don’t get an upset stomach from pickles unless I eat too many, but I do absolutely prefer these homemade ones!
TABITHA Gisler says
This weekend I will attempt my first canning experience. I love these pickles so hoping I can do it successfully. My mom pickles every year so I had hoped to do it too and this is my first garden with high yield. Wish me luck!
Cameron says
Great recipe! I am still quite an amateur canner, as I’ve only been doing it for a few years, so I am definitely still learning what types of ratios, methods, ingredients work best, and to my liking. I will say that this recipe turned out wonderfully. The vinegar to water ratio yielded a perfect flavor, and with the addition of pickle crisp (which I usually use to avoid softening), there was just enough crunch for being processed pickles. I bumped up the recipe to yield three jars, but due to the size of the pickling cukes I got, I ended up making six quart-size jars! I definitely like how you added that one should always eye-up how many jars one thinks they’ll need, because it’s never perfect and always depends on the size of the cukes. Thanks for sharing the great recipe, I will definitely be using it again!
Garagemom says
These sound awesome! Have you ever done them with a pressure cooker? If so, how many pounds of pressure and how long did you process?
Rebecca says
Hi there! I have never pressure cooked pickles. I kind of suspect it would make them mushy, but can’t say for certain. Please let me know if you try them that way!
Brian Matthews says
I’ve noticed that several other sites say the vinegar to water ratio has to be 50/50 to be shelf safe. I’m new at this, so I’m just inquiring. Thanks.