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It’s time for another installment of our Food Storage series! Part of why we do this is to help you store up food for a lot less cost than it would be to purchase the same amount of food for your shelf. Plus often times the food tastes much better! You can control what ingredients go into your food instead of a lot of processed additives. One of the foods I absolutely love to process is our homemade dill pickle recipe.
These homemade pickles are Kosher and have an amazing flavor! Plus they are all natural, no additives, and they store very well. The last time I canned this kosher dill pickle recipe was two years ago. I did a lot to say the least. And I was able to store up enough pickles for two years for our family. And it didn’t cost me much at all. Well, I noticed that my pickle storage was dwindling this season, so it is time to store up more kosher dill pickles! Which is great for you, because I’m sharing my secret for amazing canned dill pickles!
Table of Contents hide
1 Homemade Dill Pickle recipe for canning
1.1 Have you ever canned with the same dill pickle recipe?
1.2 Think you could try this dill pickle recipe?
1.3 How do you love to enjoy your dill pickles?
Homemade Dill Pickle recipe for canning
Making these kosher dill pickles is super easy. Seriously you will be amazed at how easy it is and wonder, “why have I not done this before!” I know. I thought the very same thing when I made pickles for the first time! They are even easier than making jam! No kidding! And I think jam is pretty easy! You will need:
- 9-11 lbs pickling cucumbers
- 3 1/3 cups White distilled vinegar with 5% acidity
- 7 1/3 cups water
- 1 pouch Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Pickles mix– No I’m not being paid to mention this brand. It really is what we use and I’m not being compensated in any way by mentioning them. Though if you click on my link and purchase them from Amazon, I would be paid pennies for referring you to them. It’s just what we love and use and found to offer the best flavor, crispness and is a natural mix.
- Quart jars & lids
- Water bath
- Magnetic lid lifter
This can be done with regular cucumbers, but they won’t stay crisp as long as pickling cucumbers will.
Some people keep the cucumbers whole, but I like to slice off the ends and then dice my cucumbers into hamburger pickle slices. If you have a food Processor this makes the process go a lot faster. Trust me. I canned up a full lug (roughly 25-30 lbs) of pickling cucumbers. That is a lot of slicing if I didn’t use my food processor. It cut my prep time by 80%!
Then with your jars and lids sterilized, you pack in the sliced cucumbers tightly. You will want to leave a 1/2 inch head space. Part of this is again, putting the lids in a pan of freshly boiled water for 3 minutes to ensure they are prepped and ready to seal. Leave the lids in the hot water until it’s time to cover the bottles. Then prepare the Mrs Wages Kosher Dill pickles mix according to the directions on the package.
And don’t worry, those instructions are super easy. Basically you mix the vinegar, mix and water in a pan. Then heat until it is just about to boil over medium heat. You do not want to use an aluminum pan.
Finally evenly divide the liquid between your 7 quarts of cucumber filled jars. Again you want to leave 1/2 inch head space with the water. Remove the air bubbles. Wipe the rim to ensure it is clean. Then put on the lids.
Process your bottles in a water bath. Pints need to be processed for 5 minutes, and Quarts for 10 minutes. This is for altitudes of less than 1000 feet. For every 1000 feet altitude simply add one minute of processing time.
Finally remove from the water bath and allow to cool and wait for the musical “pop” sound. Thus ensuring your lids have sealed correctly. Once cooled they can be labeled and stored in a dark cool room. I don’t know what the official stand is on how long these pickles last. But I will let you know that my last batch has easily lasted 2 years and still tastes fresh when we popped them open.
This batch I finished and will be placing behind the last three jars from my batch from 2 years ago. But if you don’t have any older pickles to use up first, these are ready after sitting for 24 hours to blend the flavors. Then be sure to chill them first for enhanced flavor and crispness.
And now you have pickles to store up and enjoy for years to come! And no more do you have to worry about the rising cost of bottled Kosher Pickles from the grocery store!
