After the pepper jelly, I decided to give canning another go. This time I chose dill pickles. I actually canned them last month, but I noticed at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday that a few vendors still had pickling cucumbers. So, if you’re interested you still have (a little) time!

The recipe I used is for Hamburger Dill Pickles. It’s really important that you choose fresh, crisp cucumbers.I know now that some of these weren’t in their ‘prime’ but I picked around the ones that had worts or two many yellow spots so hopefully they will turn out well.

You will need:

4 pounds (4-inch) cucumbers
6 tablespoons canning salt
4 1/2 cups water
4 cups vinegar
14 heads fresh dill
3 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
14 peppercorns
Special equipment
Water bath canner with lid and rack
7 glass pint canning jars, hot
Lids and bands
Makes about 7 pints

Directions:

PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.

Meanwhile, wash cucumbers and drain.

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Cut cucumbers into 1/4-inch crosswise or lengthwise slices, discarding blossom ends.

In a large saucepan, combine salt, water and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Dirty oven is not necessary. Yikes.

 
Pack cucumbers into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head-space between the liquid and top of the jar.

Add 2 heads of dill, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed and 2 peppercorns to each jar. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/4-inch head-space. Remove air bubbles. Wipe the rims, set on the lids and screw on the bands fingertip tight.

Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. *Definitely recycled this photo from the pepper jelly canning. Apparently I stopped taking photos after I filled the jars.

Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

And that’s it! The thing to note about dill pickles is, however, that they take a month and a half or so before they are fully ‘pickled.’ We haven’t tried ours yet, but as soon as I do I’ll update the post.

At least they look pretty.

Anyone have any dill pickle tips or tricks that I missed?