Looking for How to make Old-Fashioned Barrel Kosher Dill Pickles, naturally - made easy, using natural ingredients, and illustrated! in 2022? Scroll down this page and follow the links. And if you bring home some fruit or vegetables and want to can, freeze, make jam, salsa or pickles, see this page for simple, reliable, illustrated canning, freezing or preserving directions. There are plenty of other related resources, click on the resources dropdown above. If you are having a hard time finding canning lids, I've used these, and they're a great price & ship in 2 days.
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Yield: 7 to 9 pint jars
Click here for a PDF print version
Making and canning your own dill pickles the old-fashioned way, with all natural ingredients has never been easier!! Here's how to do it, in easy steps and completely illustrated. But this is NOT a recipe for a beginners. It often takes several tries to get the method down right to produce crisp pickles. Scrupulous attention to cleanliness and diligence in each step is required.
This recipe is very similar to many old fashioned kosher dill pickle recipes, like Ada Gail's Authentic Jewish Dill-Pickled pickles and those sold in general stores for generations.
Use the following quantities for each gallon capacity of your fermentation container
The basic equipment used for pickling is similar to other types of canning. However, there are some differences:
It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality cucumbers!
At right is a of picture cucumbers from my garden - they are SO easy to grow. But be sure to grow the varieties that are labeled "pickling cucumbers" - they will be much more crisp!
The picture at right shows a good cucumber for pickling (bottom) and a bad one (top). The good one is dark green, firm, and not bloated. It has lots of warts!
The bad one is overripe, it has yellow or white areas in the skin, and the warts are almost all gone. If you cut it open, you will see developed seeds. You don't want seeds!
Overripe cucumbers make mushy pickles.
It takes about 3 or 4 cucumbers to fill a pint jar. Each cucumber is about 4 - 5 inches long and you will cut off the ends so they will fit with 1/4-inch to spare..
I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the fruit in plain cold water.
You will need to cut a 1/16-inch slice off the blossom end and discard, but you must leave the stem end and 1/4-inch of the stem attached.
You may then pickle the cucumber whole; or you may choose to slice it in half lengthwise to make halves; and if you want, again to make spears (quarters).
Set them aside for use in step 6.
Place half of dill and spices on bottom of a clean, suitable fermentation container. For more information on containers see "Suitable Containers, Covers, and Weights for Fermenting Food," below
Add cucumbers, remaining dill, and spices.
Dissolve salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers. Add suitable cover and weight.
Store where temperature is between 70ºF and 75ºF for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting. Temperatures of 55º to 65ºF are acceptable, but the fermentation will take 5 to 6 weeks. Avoid temperatures above 80ºF, or pickles will become too soft during fermentation. Fermenting pickles cure slowly. Check the container several times a week and promptly remove surface scum or mold. Caution: If the pickles become soft, slimy, or develop a disagreeable odor, discard them.
Whether you store them in the fridge or can them, you need to do the following 4 steps first:
Next, follow either Option 1 OR Option2:
Canning fully fermented pickles is simple, safe way to store them.
Get the jars and lids sanitizing
The
dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle.
I get that going while I'm preparing everything else, so it's done by the
time I'm ready to fill the jars. If you don't have a dishwasher,
submerge the jars in a large pot (the canner itself) of water and bring it
to a boil.
Be sure to let it go through the rinse cycle to get rid of any soap!
Fill the canner about 1/2 full of water and start it heating (with the lid on).
Put
the lids into the small pot of boiling water for at least several minutes.
Note: everything gets sanitized in the water bath (step 7) anyway, so this just
helps to ensure there is no spoilage later!)
Get them all here, delivered direct to your home, at the best prices on the internet!
Adjust lids and process as recommended in Table below, or use the low-temperature pasteurization treatment described below.
Recommended process time for Dill Pickles in a boiling-water canner. |
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Process Time at Altitudes of |
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Style of Pack |
Jar Size |
0 - 1,000 ft |
1,001 - 6,000 ft |
Above 6,000 ft |
Raw |
Pints |
10 min |
15 |
20 |
Quarts |
15 |
20 |
25 |
The following treatment results in a better product texture but must be carefully managed to avoid possible spoilage. Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the original container for about 4 to 6 months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly.
This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 1994. Reviewed June 2006.
A 1-gallon container is needed for each 5 pounds of fresh vegetables. Therefore, a 5-gallon stone crock is of ideal size for fermenting about 25 pounds of fresh cabbage or cucumbers. Food-grade plastic and glass containers are excellent substitutes for stone crocks. Other 1- to 3-gallon non-food-grade plastic containers may be used if lined inside with a clean food-grade plastic bag. Click here to find out more about fermentation crocks. There is also a good book about making old-fashioned sauerkraut.
Caution: Be certain that foods contact only food-grade plastics. Do not use garbage bags or trash liners. Fermenting sauerkraut in quart and half-gallon Mason jars is an acceptable practice, but may result in more spoilage losses.
Cabbage and cucumbers must be kept 1 to 2 inches under brine while fermenting. After adding prepared vegetables and brine, insert a suitably sized dinner plate or glass pie plate inside the fermentation container. The plate must be slightly smaller than the container opening, yet large enough to cover most of the shredded cabbage or cucumbers. To keep the plate under the brine, weight it down with 2 to 3 sealed quart jars filled with water. Covering the container opening with a clean, heavy bath towel helps to prevent contamination from insects and molds while the vegetables are fermenting. Fine quality fermented vegetables are also obtained when the plate is weighted down with a very large clean, plastic bag filled with 3 quarts of water containing 4-1/2 tablespoons of salt. Be sure to seal the plastic bag. Freezer bags sold for packaging turkeys are suitable for use with 5-gallon containers.
The fermentation container, plate, and jars must be washed in hot sudsy water, and rinsed well with very hot water before use.
Click here for the fermented pickle problems and solutions page.
Whether you want dills or sweet pickles; canning them or straight into the refrigerator; there is a mix for every taste and need here!Get them all here, delivered direct to your home, at the best prices on the internet! Get everything you need to make pickles: mixes, salt, brine, etc. here!
Other Equipment:From left to right:
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Home Canning KitsThis is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother used to
make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts
for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a
plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball
Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll
never need anything else except jars & lids (and the jars are reusable)!
There is also a simple kit with just the canner and rack, and a pressure canner, if you want to do vegetables (other than tomatoes). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! |
Summary - Cost of Making Homemade Pickles - makes 12 pint jars, 16 oz each* |
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Item | Quantity | Cost in 2019 | Source | Subtotal |
Cucumbers | 30-36 (about 3 or 4 per pint jar) | free from the garden, or $3.00 cents at a PYO | Pick your own | $3.00 |
Canning jars (pint size, wide mouth), includes lids and rings | 12 jars | $8.50/dozen | Grocery stores (Publix, Kroger, Safeway, etc.) and online here | $5.25 |
Vinegar | 4 cups | $0.99 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$0.99 |
Pickling salt | 11/4 cups | $2.00 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$2.00 |
Dill (fresh or seed) | 7 heads | I grow it, otherwise, I'd use the seed from the grocery: $2.00 | Safeway, Publix, Kroger, grocery stores |
$2.00 |
Pickle spices | 2 Tablespoons | $2.00 per package, sp about $0.50 | Grocery stores (Publix, Kroger, Safeway, etc.) | $0.50 |
Total | $14.00 total or about $1.50 per jar INCLUDING the jars - which you can reuse! |
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* - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars! Many products are sold in jars that will take the lids and rings for canning. For example, Classico Spaghetti sauce is in quart sized jars that work with Ball and Kerr lids and rings. See this page for information about reusing jars from commercial products for home canning. |
Above is the
2020 version of
the Ball Blue Book