Pickles, Quick Fresh Pack Dill Pickles
8 lbs of 3- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers
2 gals water
1¼ cups canning or pickling salt
1½ qts vinegar (5 percent)
¼ cup sugar
2 quarts water
tbsp whole mixed pickling spice
about 3 tbsp whole mustard seed (2 tsp to 1 tsp per pint jar)
about 14 heads of fresh dill (3 heads to 1½ heads per pint jar)
or 4½ tbsp dill seed (1 tbsp to 1½ tsp per pint jar)
Yield: 7 to 9 pints
Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.
Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼-inch of stem attached. Dissolve ¾ cup salt in 2 gals water. Pour over cucumbers and let stand 12 hours. Drain. Combine vinegar, ½ cup salt, sugar and 2 quarts water. Add mixed pickling spices tied in a clean white cloth. Heat to boiling. Fill jars with cucumbers. Add 1 tsp mustard seed and 1½ heads fresh dill per pint. Cover with boiling pickling solution, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.
| Recommend Process Time for Quick Fresh-Pack Dill Pickles in a BOILING-WATER canner | |||||
| Process Time at Altitudes of | |||||
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | 0-1,000 ft | 1,001 -6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft | |
| Raw | Pints | 10 min | 15 min | 20 min | |
| Quarts | 15 min | 20 min | 25 min | ||
(adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, 2006 revision)