Started A Small Batch of Pickles

I have a super small batch of pickles started. One qt of whole pickles and one pint of sliced ones. Very excited. My cucumber are blooming like crazy and I had to do something with the first of ones but didn't have enough to make a full batch of pickles.

I am making a spicy kosher dill. It was super easy. I mixed 2 cups filtered water with 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar and brought that to a boil. To the pint jar I added: 1 clove garlic, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp dill, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp canning salt and a little crushed red pepper flakes to the jar. Stuffed it full of sliced cucumbers. I double that for the qt jar and stuffed it full of whole pickles with the blossom end removed. Filled both jars with the vinegar/ water mix, added lids and gave them a shake and now they are in the frig for a week or two.

Wow!

A recipe for refrigerator dills and it looks good!

I don't can. I like dills almost exclusively. About 3 years ago I tried a refrigerator dill recipe. The result was so sweet, I couldn't eat them! Are you headed towards a sweet pickle at 1 tsp sugar per quart? Is a lot of sugar necessary for refrigerator pickles?

Steve

I don't like sweet pickles but if you add just a little it cuts the vinegar just right. My mom never added sugar but I tried a recipe a few years ago and it was just the way I like them. I usually don't do refrigerator types pickles but I don't I saw a recipe for an open jar pickle a few years ago and they just mixed up a big gal jar of pickles and left on the counter. I prefer this before because I don't want to boil one or two jar. Although I think with the vinegar and salt it would be OK because they don't sit there long.

My daughter who I had helping add the spices to the jars wanted to try them yesterday and she did talk me into letting her try them today. Not very pickled yet but they are getting there. They have a little kick too.

This sounds so ..

. about right!

I'm looking forward to trying them .

Steve

Pretty sure a teaspoon of sugar in a quart wouldn't make them sweet. But it is amazing what a little sugar does for a recipe.

No it doesn't. If you take a dill pickle recipe (not a sweet one) and say it calls for a cup of salt. Decrease it to 3/4 salt and add 1/4 sugar and it really smooths out that pucker face you get. LOL

Here is the one I am using this year.

7 qts
pickling cucumbers
4 cups white vinegar
8 cups filtered water
3/4 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
Add to each jar 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp dill seed, optional pinch of crushed red pepper

CONGRATS!!!!!!

The last time I started making pickles I ended up with something like 40 pints....


I tend to get a little carried away with trying new things.
You don't happen to want a pint of sweet pickles do you????

LOL no I don't care for the sweet ones.

love good freezer pickles they have the right amount of sweet and tart to them. can devour a jar of kosher dills in a couple days...