Canning Garlic Dill Pickles
I like to make my own garlic dill pickles to save money and control the ingredients in our food. Are you tired of having to choose between cost and quality? I get it! I’ve switched over to organic and natural foods as much as possible but the prices aren’t always affordable. I grew up in a family that kept a big garden and preserved our own food, so know there’s a better way.
All of my garden produce is organic and picked fresh each day. There is a huge difference in flavor! It just makes sense to preserve as much of our garden goodies as I ‘can!’ I know exactly what is in them, they taste great, and I can adjust the flavor.
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Canning Pickles vs Brine Curing
This recipe for garlic dill pickles is preserved in a hot water bath canner so they will last through the winter. To keep the pickles crunchy, you’ll toss the cut cucumbers in a bowl with pickling salt and allow it to sit for several hours. You can use pickling lime instead if you like. Follow the instructions on the package.
It’s great to have those canned pickles in your pantry for later. You can also make pickles in a glass bowl or ceramic crock to save time. That’s how my Gram used to make her pickles and I have fond memories of her dipping them out of a 5-gallon crock stashed in her back room.
I like to make her recipe for brine-cured pickles for fresh eating in the summer. This is a very easy way to make crunchy, tasty pickles that keep in your refrigerator for several weeks. If you have a lot of produce but no time, you can make brine-cured dilly beans or summer squash pickles too.
Here is my recipe for garlic dill pickles, adapted from the one I found on the website for the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Garlic Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- 8 pounds cucumbers
- 1 1/4 cup pickling salt
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 8 cups water
- 9 tsp whole mustard seed
- 9 – 14 dill flower heads or 1 1/2 tsps dill seed per pint jar
- 9 cloves garlic
- 7-9 pint jars
Instructions
- Wash cucumbers. Cut off the blossom ends and discard. Leave a small amount of stem. Slice or quarter into spears and place in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle 3/4 cup pickling salt over cukes and stir to coat. Refrigerate and stir occasionally for 12 hours.
- Fill your water bath canner about 3/4 full with water, place on stove and turn to high.
- Clean your canning jars and place in the canner. Boil for 20 minutes to sterilize. While jars are boiling, finish preparing your cucumbers.
- Rinse and drain cucumbers.
- Combine vinegar, 1/2 cup pickling salt, sugar, and 8 cups water in a stainless steel pan. Heat to boiling.
- While you are waiting for the solution to boil, prepare your canning lids according to the manufacturer’s directions.
- Put 1 to 1 1/2 heads of dill in the bottom of each jar, add 1 clove of garlic and 1 tsp of mustard seeds.
- Fill jars with your prepared cucumbers, then ladle the boiling brine solution into each jar. Leave 1/2 inch headspace. Work quickly so that brine solution does not cool. (If there is a big difference in temperature between contents of jars and the boiling water bath, jars may crack when placed in the canner.)
- Wipe jar top with a clean, damp cloth. Top with lid and screw on the metal band.
- Place in water bath and process. (For up to 1000 ft in elevation – 10 minutes, 1001-6000 – 15 minutes, over 6000 – 20 minutes)
- Remove jars from water bath with a jar lifter. Place on a towel on your counter and allow to cool out of drafts.
- When jars are cool, check to make sure they sealed. If the jar sealed, it will not push up and down in the center.
- Remove metal bands and wash jars.
- Store in a cool dry place out of direct light. Any jars that did not seal need to be stored in the refrigerator and used in 2 or 3 weeks. Let your sealed jars sit for a couple of weeks for the flavors to develop.
Notes
What is your favorite kind of pickle?
This post is part of the blogger roundup Preserving the Harvest.
Do you love preserving the harvest as much as we do? Click the links below and get detailed instructions for preserving 23 of the most popular fruits and vegetables
Preserving Vegetables (in alphabetical order)
How to Preserve Carrots by Freezing, Canning, and More from Oak Hill Homestead
4 Easy Ways to Preserve Cauliflower from Dehydrating Made Easy
Cucumber Fresh Pack Garlic Dill Pickles Recipe from The Self Sufficient HomeAcre
Make Your Own Garlic Powder and Other Ways to Preserve Garlic from Learning & Yearning
How to Freeze Your Green Bean Harvest from The Reid Homestead
How to Preserve Leafy Greens from Homespun Seasonal Living
Preserving Okra by Freezing, Canning, Fermenting, and Dehydrating from Schneider Peeps
5 Ways to Preserve Onions for Storage from Rockin W Homestead
How to Dehydrate Parsnips & Make Parsnip Chips from The Purposeful Pantry
3 Ways to Preserve Peppers from Grow a Good Life
5 Ways to Store Potatoes from A Modern Homestead
Ways to Preserve Radishes from The Purposeful Pantry
How to Freeze Squash (and Other Preservation Methods) from Our Inspired Roots
Freezing Tomatoes for Preserving Later in the Year from Stone Family Farmstead
3 Easy Ways to Preserve Zucchini from Grow a Good Life
Preserving Fruit (in alphabetical order)
Guide to Preserving Apples from Oak Hill Homestead
3 Ways To Preserve Fresh Summer Berries from Better Hens & Gardens
How to Make Cherry Jam from Scratch from The Self Sufficient HomeAcre
3 Quick Ways to Preserve Grapes from Homestead Lady
3 Best Ways To Preserve Mulberries from My Homestead Life
How To Preserve Oranges On The Homestead from 15 Acre Homestead
How to Freeze Peaches from A Modern Homestead
How To Preserve Strawberries On The Homestead from 15 Acre Homestead
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Great tps. But Question? Have you ever dehydrated cucumbers. ? IF so when you re hydrateng them how or what do you do to them to make them crisp again. I wondered if you put pickle crisp on them before dehydrating, ?? Just wondered. Some one told me they saw a person on like that talked about re hydrating them and they were as crisp as fresh. But she couldn’t afford the class that taught this. I have racked my brains ever since.
Hi Patricia,
I haven’t dehydrated cucumbers. The pickle crisp draws moisture out of the cucumber, so I don’t know if using that before dehydrating would make them crisp when rehydrating. I’m sorry I can’t answer your question.
This post brought back a lot of memories as my Mother used to can dill pickles…she called them Bread and Butter pickles…I have not had these in many years!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Debbie
I’m going to try your recipe this year. I love pickles with garlic. Thank you!
Happy to share, Maria! What I like best about these pickles is how easy they are and they stay nice and crunchy!
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Looks so amazing. Yum!
Why thank you! 🙂
Its funny…I uploaded a recipe for dill pickles too this morning! 🙂 I had canned a few then did a jar to keep in the fridge and my family went nuts and loved them. First time I have done pickles in about 20 years so I used a recipe that I found on the net that had good reviews and it worked, whew….:)
Hi Deb,
You know, more and more I am trying to go back to doing things that I used to do, but started getting busy and gave up on 🙂 When my son was born, I really stepped back from canning as much from my garden. But over the last few years I have jumped back into canning full force!
I’m glad you like your pickles and everyone went nuts over them! Thanks for stopping by!