Super-Easy, Killer-Tasty Dill Pickle Recipe

This is the time of year when the attention of a gardener turns toward preserving what they’ve managed to produce. The way I see it, it’s the time of year when we see who really wants to be a self-sufficient beast of homegrown agriculture, and who just likes the idea. For most people that have never had much experience with homesteading skills or gardening, canning and preserving food can seem like a monumental task. I know that when I first started doing it, the biggest problem I had was actually doing it. However, once you get over that initial little bump, you start wondering why the hell you didn’t start doing this earlier. While it does take a little extra time and work to do all this, you’ll be glad you did it.

For this post, we’re going to start with something small and manageable that won’t require a whole lot of equipment: my favorite of the many dill pickle recipes out there. Whether you love them or hate them, there’s a good chance that you’ll at least know someone who will gobble them up for you. Making pickles really is the most simple preservation recipe you can do, so it’s a great starter recipe for a beginner– with most dill pickle recipes only requiring a few ingredients. The recipe I use recipe is just a boiling water bath canning recipe, which is really just submersing your jars in boiling water to kill bacteria and get the gum on the bottom of your lids to seal. I’ve heard recently that the USDA and FDA no longer recommend using the boiling water bath to preserve food, but they also allow Biotech companies to provide the research that will decide whether their own products will be approved for nationwide use– so take their regulatory prowess however you will. As with any of the things I will post on here, you do this stuff as a consenting adult that can decide for his or herself whether something is safe. Do your research, look at other recipes, but ultimately your safety is your own responsibility. It’s a cliché saying, but it’s a good one: “If there’s doubt, throw it out!”.

Basically, if you can it, then open it, and it’s covered in slime or smells like a clogged garbage disposal, don’t put it in your mouth.

To fill 4 pint jars, you’ll need:

• 3-3.5 lbs of cucumbers. Smaller breeds pickle easier, but larger cucumbers that are cut to size work just as well.
• 2 cups of white vinegar. I’ve seen “pickling” vinegar with about 18% acidity, but I use 5% since it’s cheaper, easier to find, and I haven’t ever had trouble with it.
• 2 cups of H20. If you use city water that contains chlorine as a purification agent, I highly recommend putting the water in an open container for 24 hours. Chlorine naturally separates and evaporates from water if left open, making your water a little more pure.
• 2 tablespoons of whole peppercorns and whole mustard seeds.
• 2 tablespoons of pickling salt. I do not recommend using regular iodized table salt.
• 4 cloves of garlic. If you don’t have cloves, substitute for 4 teaspoons of chopped garlic or 2 teaspoons of minced garlic. I actually use a little more, but I’m a garlic-obsessive.
• 4 teaspoons of dill seed. If you have access to it, try using one full head of dill. It grows wild all over the place in the late summer/early fall– I find mine growing all along the Willamette River trail here in Eugene.

First, get your canning pot full and on the stove. You’ll have to refer to the directions on your pot as to how much water you need to fill it with to provide proper coverage for your jars. There should be about 2 inches of boiling water above your jars when you pop them in to be sealed. If you are just using a big, old pot you found, fill it to where you think you need it but keep a separate pot of hot water off to the side so you can fill your canning pot more if necessary. If you don’t have a “rack” for your jars, line the bottom of your pot with canning jar rings (threaded side down) to help promote heat-flow around your jars, and to avoid the fracturing of the glass that can happen when it’s subjected to prolonged exposure to direct heat. Get your jars in the water to sterilize them.

Next, wash your cucumbers off and cutting them to size, measuring them out to leave around a half inch of head-space when packed into your jar. Head-space is the space between the top of the tallest pickle and the bottom of the lid– use the neck of the jar as a good measurement. Cut off the flowering ends of your cucumbers, since they contain enzymes that make your pickles mushy.

Combine water, vinegar, and salt in a small pot and bring to a rolling boil.

Pull the cans out of the boiling pot. Empty the water out of every one except one. Pour the water from that one jar into a small bowl, then put the lids you’re going to use into that water.

Add ½ tablespoon of both mustard seed and peppercorns into jars, as well as a full head of dill per jar or 1 teaspoon of dill seeds. Cut full garlic cloves into quarters and put in jar.

CRAM cucumbers into your jar, leaving that ½ inch of head-space that we talked about earlier. Pour the boiling water/vinegar/salt mixture into the jar, making sure to keep that ½ inch of space.

Take the lids out of the hot water bath you put them in and pop them on. Put on screw bands over the lids, and tighten them to fingertip tightness. This means no elbow grease, and keep your damn palms off the band. You don’t want to tighten it too much.

Use a jar lifter to put your jars into the boiling water bath, making sure there’s about two inches of water above your lids, and cover the pot. The processing time in your area is something you’ll have to look up. Here in Eugene, were almost at sea-level, so I do mine for about 10 – 15 minutes. Since dill pickle recipes are so acidic, they require a little less boiling time (botulism doesn’t do well in acidic environments).

Once you’ve had them boiling long enough, turn off the stove and let your jars sit in the hot water for about another five minutes. Take them out and set them on a towel, letting them sit overnight before testing the seals. After they’ve cooled, you should notice the seals compressing, with the center not moving at all. If this doesn’t happen, put the pickles from the unsealed jar into the fridge and enjoy at your leisure. Store all well-sealed pickles in a cool, dry, dark place.

A couple tips about storage: if you store them in a spot that gets too warm, your pickles will become mushy. Try not to store them above 70 degrees if possible. Also, whenever you store canned goods, store them with the steel rings off. The rings can hold water that will corrode the seal on your lid over time, making your food unsafe.

Let the pickles sit for a few weeks to soak up all those good juices before eating! You’ll love ‘em, I swear. Of all the dill pickle recipes out there, this one is for sure my favorite.