How can I make CRUNCHY canned dill pickles?

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I'm looking for a recipe for Dill pickles that will stay crunchy. I've used prepared mixes (Mrs. Wages) and several other recipes without success. I tried several "refrigerator" type recipes last summer, and they were great for a while, but used up valuable refrigerator space and deteriorated rapidly after a few weeks. I have a great recipe for sweet pickles that stay crunchy forever, and alum is a key ingredient in the process, so I suspect it may be for dills, too. Help me if you can (no pun intended)>

-- Brad Traver (homefixer@mix-net.net), December 08, 1999

Answers

i am sorry, i do not have an answer to your question, but i wonder if you would share with me your recipe for the sweet pickles that stay crunchy......thank you.......gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), December 09, 1999.

I've tried for years to make crisp dill pickles and the only thing that comes close is the Mrs. Wages mix. I found that if I put them in the fridge and got them very cold they would crisp up some. But really never like the ones you buy. You are right about what makes a crisp sweet pickle. Alum or pickling lime are essential. There is a recipe on the back of the Mrs. Wages pickling lime for Old South cucumber lime pickles. I've used this for years and the great thing is that you can substitute green tomato slices, zuchinni slices, and even onion and make really crisp pickles that stay crisp for years. Every year I make as many green tomato pickles, some with hot pepper and some plain. You can't believe how wonderful these are. When we lived in Fla. we grew zuchinni for the market and had tons of culls. They make good crisp pickles that look just like cucumber. These take time but are well worth it. If you cant find Mrs. Wages lime I'll be happy to post the recipe. Peggy

-- Peggy Carr (wclpc@cookeville.com), December 09, 1999.

This is from Nathan Griffith's book, "Husbandry." It's a great book!

Start with good pickling cucumbers, like National Pickling. Use only firm, young unblemished fruits. Wash and rub the spines off. Sterilize a crock or glass jar big enough to hold the cucumbers, by dribbling boiling water all over the inside surface. Pour out the hot water. Add the pickles, along with say 1 or 2 flower tops of dill (grown right in your cucumber patch, if you like) and 2 cloves of garlic for every gallon of crock capacity. We place washed grape leaves beneath and on top, to prevent the pickles from losing their crunch. Mix salt and water until a fresh-laid egg will neither float nor sink in it. This will be somewhere around 1 cup of salt to 10 cups of water. Add this to cover the cukes, with a sterile plate on top to hold the pickles under. Cover to keep out the dust. In a day or two, bubbles will start coming from the ferment. Periodically remove any scum without disturbing the pickles. In 3 to 5 weeks the pickles will be good to eat, but we just preserve as explained above under "canning." If they're too salty, we add a little water to the brine before canning. They can be just taken from the crock as needed, but they get really soft and unappetizing in a few months.

And under "canning:"

Pickles are the only canned food we don't cook to seal. My experience is there is enough acid in pickles to keep them from spoiling. Pack the jars with cured pickles (which see). The pickling liquor is heated boiling hot, poured in to cover the pickles, and the lids are tightened to seal. This method may not seal every jar, but we eat them (the ones which don't form a vacuum seal) within a month or so without worry. Even if a yucky scum forms, "kosher dill" pickles are still probably good. I use common sense; just discarding stuff that looks bad. When I boiled the pickles like all the modern books say, they always turned out mushy. I like 'em crunchy.

Hope this helps.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), December 19, 1999.


Alum is the answer. AT least is was for my mother who put up 20-30 quarts of dills every year (8 kids!). She used to put a tsp of alum in the jar with the dill sprigs and pickling spice before packing the jars.

-- Tracy (trimmer@bsi.sk.ca), March 08, 2000.

I was given a recipe for pickles using alum these were the first ones I ever canned and didnt realize how good they were until I tried different recipes

-- ronda johnson (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), August 21, 2000.


AUNT IDA'S DILL PICKLES 3 qt. water 1 qt. vinegar 3/4 cup non iodized salt 1 tsp. alum dill and garlic (one of each on the bottom and on the top of each jar. Heat ingredients to boiling. pour over pickles garlic and dill, and seal. If you use quarts you might want to add an extra head of dill

-- ronda (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), August 22, 2000.

AUNT IDA'S CRUNCHY DILL PICKLES 3 QT. WATER 1 QT. VINEGAR 3/4 CUP NON IODIZED SALT 1 TSP. ALUM DILL AND GARLIC( ONE ON TOP AND ON BOTTOM OF JAR) HEAT INGREDIANTS TO BOILING POUR OVER CUKES IN JAR AND SEAL

-- ronda (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), August 22, 2000.

Has anyone tried soaking the pickle slices in pickling lime to crisp them up before adding the pickling brine? I haven't tried it myself, so I'm wondering if other people have and if it worked? I used a lime recipe on sweets that has been good and it calls for soaking the slices overnight first,but I suspect you have to have a cut surface to let it soak in...?

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), August 27, 2000.

My mil and dh's grandmother used to soak small scrubbed pickling cukes in ice water overnight and I do this too. This crisps them up. I agree that the pickles do not have to be water bathed due to high acid content. I fill the clean hot jars with dill heads, garlic and cukes. I boil my vinegar, salt and water mixture for 10 min. I then fill the jars with the boiling mixture and seal immediately with sterilized lids screwing them on very tight. I would not use alum due to health risks. I would prefer my pickles to be not quite so crisp than to risk my children's health.

I hope this helps.

Silvia

-- Silvia Stoddart (organic_farmer@hotmail.com), January 07, 2001.


I have canned pickles for years... and I had the same problem... soggy, limpy pickles.... but several years ago... in my search for a better dill... I came across Carla Emery's way of doing it... pasturation (spellings wrong)method... if I remember right... one keeps the temp of the water to about 180 degrees for about 20 minutes... crunchy as can be.... in fact folks ask for my pickles at gatherings... better than store bought and a real simple syrup... no alum....

so get yourself a copy of Carla's book... most libraries have them... and look up dill pickles... you shouldn't regret it...

-- Mary Ann (peanut@wi-net.com), January 09, 2001.



I'm at the library, so don't have my recipes at hand, but it seems to me I read something about putting a grape leaf into the jars and that keeps them crisp?

-- Katie (ktthegardener@yahoo.com), January 09, 2001.

Using whatever recipe you have, try soaking the pickles in pickling lime for about 6 hours. Make sure to rinse well after soaking. You can also use with sweet pickle recipe. After soaking proceed as your recipe calls for. If you prefer to water bath can for the safest product, try to have your canning water boiling first, then add the rack of jars to the canner. Bring to a boil for five minutes and they should seal. I always seal everything in a canner, no sense in going to all that work and having jars spoil, come unsealed or making someone sick. These pickles should be crunchy. If using whole cucumbers try pricking with a toothpick or a fork.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), January 09, 2001.

I'm Southern, and I have many old family recipes for a variety of pickles (Jerusalem artichoke, watermelon rind, green tomato, string bean, beet etc.)and they all call for alum or pickling lime. Because of my inability to find such items (I now live in NYC, and they look at me like I'm crazy when I ask for Ball canning jars; I have to have my mother send them to me)I've never used lime or alum. These pickles always turn out crispy, even though I don't use the lime or alum.I guess these vegetables retain a crispiness throughout the pickling process that the cucumber cannot. I am eager to try making my own garlic dill pickles, but I do hate a soggy pickle. Perhaps I should try to find alum and/or lime. Does anyone know where you can buy them? Also, I'm curious RE: the people who said they don't process their pickles. How do you get a proper vaccum seal to form on the jar? Do you just refrigerate them immediately after you can them and not worry about spoilage?

-- Kristine Smith (kristine.l.smith@worldnet.att.net), January 31, 2001.

Back again, I forgot to add this to my original posting. Has anyone tried fresh-pack as opposed to the fermented/brining method? I realize that this isn't the traditional way of making kosher pickles, but it seems like it might result in a crispier pickle because the cucumbers aren't hanging out softening in un- vaccumed liquid for days. Just a thought.

-- Kristine Smith (kristine.l.smith@worldnet.att.net), January 31, 2001.

Well, now that it's mid-winter and I'm actually eating the pickles from last year, I will comment that I wasn't entirely happy with the ones I soaked in pickling lime, they had a weird sort of 'styrofoam' mouth-feel to them. Not terribly definite, just a slight under sensation that nagged me a bit. I did some alum sweet pickles that turned out much more satisfactorily in the 'crunch' aspect, altho I hate using alum due to the toxcicity reports I've read on it.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 31, 2001.


My pickles turn out soggy also, and alum sounds like the stuff that came in a pencil that you wet and put on a cut to stop the bleeding. Does anybody else get this picture in your mind when you think of alum? I have used lime and it works very well for cut, sweet pickles. How about a recipe for canning crunchy dilly green beans...anybody want to contribute one of those?

-- Catherine Van Dyck (vandyckc@home.net), July 01, 2001.

Alum is actually potassium aluminum sulfate, a highly astringent crystal traditionally used in canning to make pickles crisper.

Alum is a mineral salt- not a metal based product

-- April (atobias@yahoo.com), July 02, 2001.


A few tips that I've discovered while pickling are: ALWAYS soak the cucumbers in ice water for at least four hours. Use hard water if possible. ALWAYS use pickling vinegar. I have a recipe from Company's Coming Preserves, and it's great! I've enlarged it and don't have the original handy at the moment, but here's the enlarged one : Place dill and garlic in hot, sterilized jars, pack with cucumbers. Bring brine to a boil and pour on top of pickles. 18 qts. water, 6 qts. pickling vinegar, 4 1/2 cups pickling salt. Hope this helps. Ruth

-- Ruth Walter (f.walter@sk.sympatico.ca), August 07, 2001.

I have previously at this site submitted a recipe for dill pickes that I got from an East Tennessee Mountain lady that taught me all I know about canning, and I know can about 800 jars a year of produce.

Getting to the question--no matter what recipe you use for dill pickles--the secret is in the harvesting or the buying. You can not "crisp up" an old pickle! The secret is in using only pickles that are 3 - 4 inches long--very young cucumbers. My husband is a beliver when it comes to vegetables that bigger is better--that's why I take charge of picking the cucumbers for dill pickles, because when he picks he never ever sees the size that I want for my dill pickles. What I picks I use for a very crisp sweet pickle that I call Susan's Sweets. Hope this helps you. If you look I've alreay supplied by Dill Pickles recipe.

-- Susan Millward (millwwardjl@aol.com), April 24, 2002.


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