Quick Fresh Pack Dill Pickles

Refreshingly crisp homemade dill pickles are surprisingly easy to make.  Keep your favorite dill pickle size in mind when picking your cucumbers.

All the mason jar recipes included in the canning recipe resource, including dill pickles are adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.

Adapted from the USDA

8 lbs of 3 to 5 inch pickling cucumbers

2 gals water

1-1/4 cups canning or pickling salt

1-1/2 quarts. vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

2 quarts water

2 tbsp whole mixed pickling spice

3 tbsp whole mustard seed

14 heads of fresh dill or-

4-1/2 tbsp dill seed

Yield: 7-9 pints

Wash cucumbers.  Cut 1/16 inch slice off blossom end and discard, but leave 1/4 inch of stem attached.  Dissolve 1/2 cup salt in 2 quarts water.  Pour over cucumbers and let stand 12 hours.  Drain.  Combine vinegar, 1/2 cup salt, sugar, and 2 quarts water, Add mixed pickling spices tied in a clean white cloth.  Heat to boiling.  Using a wide mouthed funnel, fill jars with pickles.  Add 1 tsp mustard seed and 1-1/2 heads fresh dill per pint.  Cover with boiling pickling solution, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Adjust lids and process.

*"The Complete Guide to Home Canning" Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539 USDA Extension Service