If you like a crunchy, slightly spicy, delicious dill pickle and like to can, this post is for you! The recipe for these pickles was handed down by my grandmother {who has been making them for as long as I can remember} and has ruined store bought pickles for me forever. In fact, when I was a kid in Germany, we used to take boxes of these pickles home with us on the airplane after our summer visits. The customs agents thought we were insane every time they inspected our pickles. I guess we’re really lucky they never broke!
I’m sharing this recipe with you because I love you. But you better not tell anyone else because these pickles are my key to fame and fortune! 😉
Grandma’s Secret Dill Pickles ~ Recipe & Canning Tutorial
To make these pickles, you need a lot of cucumbers. Preferably, straight, small ones (4-5 inches or so). I like to grow my own, but for whatever reason, I have not been successful growing cucumbers the last few years. These beautiful cucumbers were given to me by a friend and this is the first time I have been able to can pickles in several years. If you have any small, extra cucumbers, please send them my way!
First, prepare your water bath canner and get your pickle solution ready {recipe below}. Then, wash cucumbers well and cut off any bad spots.
Pack cucumbers very, very, very tightly into quart size jars. Squeeze in as many as you can because once they are canned they will all float to the top and make it look like you could have fit at least 50% more in! It never fails.
Add garlic, hot pepper, dill,and alum. Don’t scimp on the alum ~ it’s what makes the pickles crispy.
Ladle prepared, boiling pickle solution (water, pickling salt, apple cider vinegar) into your jars. Leave 1/4 inch head space.
Add a washed grape leaf.
Put the lids on and tighten. Use pot holders because the jar will be really hot.
Put the cans into boiling water in a water bath canner and can for ~10 minutes, just long enough to help the jars seal. Remove jars from canner, make sure they seal, then let them sit for 24 hours to cool. After they’ve cooled completely, store them for at least three weeks before eating.
Serves 4-6
This easy-to-follow homemade dill pickle recipe makes flavorful and crunchy pickles from scratch.
20 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 1 Peck cucumbers, straight, skinny, and small
- 3 Pints cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 Cups pickling salt
- 4 1/2 Quarts water
- Fresh dill
- Grape leaves (1 per jar)
- 3 large cloves of garlic (1/2 clove per jar)
- Alum ( 1/2 tsp per jar)
- Hot peppers (1/2 - 1 per jar)
Instructions
- Prepare water bath canner and bring water to a boil.
- Sterile quart size canning jars. (I wash mine in dishwasher or boil them in the canner).
- Heat up lids and rings.
- Combine water, salt, vinegar in a large pot and bring to a boil.
- Wash cucumbers and cut off any bad spots.
- Pack cucumbers extremely tightly into canning jars. Wide mouth jars are easier to pack.
- Add hot pepper, alum, dill, garlic to the jars.
- Ladle pickling solution into jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.
- Wipe off mouth of jars.
- Tighten lids on jars.
- Place jars in waterbath canner and boil for 10 minutes.
- Remove jars from canner.
- Let sit to cool for 24 hours.
- Store pickles for 3 weeks before eating.
- Enjoy!
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Ingredients
Instructions
- For more food preservation posts:
- What to do with a bumper crop of carrots
- What to do with a bumper crop of broccoli
- Homemade Strawberry Syrup Recipe & Canning Tutorial
- How to Can Roasted Tomato Sauce
- Lazy Person's Guide to Canning Crushed Tomatoes
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Do you like pickles? What’s your most favorite kind?
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