Pickle recipes handed down in my family, here for you

blurose

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Blu's B&B pickles (grandma's recipe)

4 qts. sliced cucumbers about 1/8 inch thick
1/2 c. pickling salt
Ice cubes
2 qts. sliced white onions
1 qt. vinegar
4 c. sugar
1 Tbl. celery seeds
2 Tbls. mustard seeds
1 tsp. finely chopped garlic (I added this, grandma hated garlic)
1 tsp. tumeric (optional) (we NEVER used tumeric as nobody in the family likes it, but it is a classic ingredient in these pickles)
1/2 tsp. white pepper (optional) we just use ground black pepper

Gently stir salt into the sliced cucs. Cover with ice cubes; let stand 2-3 hours or until cucs are crisp and cold. Add more ice if it melts. Drain; add onions.

Combine remaining ingredients; bring quickly to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Add cucs and onions and bring to boiling point. Pack at once in hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom. Make sure to wipe the rim with a damp paper towel before putting on the lids and rings. Finger tighten the rings and process the jars in boiling water bath (212F) for 30 minutes.

Remove jars from canner and complete seals unless closures are self-sealing type. Makes 8 pints.


Blu's cold-pack Dill Pickles

My dill pickle recipe came to me from my ex-mother-in-law. What I think really makes this recipe great is the fact that you can put up one jar of pickles or as many as you have cucumbers for. Also, you can keep the brine for several days while you wait for more cucs to get big enough to make pickles with, just bring it back to a boil before pouring over your cucs in the jars. If you run out of brine, simply make more using the same recipe. You can also make dill chips using sliced cucs and dill spears with this recipe too. The finished pickles still seem to keep their crispness, which me and my family love.

3 quarts water
1 quart distilled white vinegar
1 c. pickling salt
1 tsp. alum (helps the pickles remain crisp I think)

Fresh dill to taste, peeled garlic cloves, tiny red peppers. I've found the red peppers in the spice aile in a Crown Colony box, but you can omit if you can't find them and add instead just a few crushed red pepper flakes in each jar.

First you sterilize your jars, lids and rings, keeping the lids and rings in hot water until you place them on the jars.

In each hot jar place fresh dill, 1 garlic clove and 1 tiny red pepper. Pack in as many washed whole pickling cucs as the jar will hold while leaving 1/2 inch of headroom.

Heat the water, vinegar, salt and alum to a boil. Pour solution over pickles in jars. Make sure to wipe clean the rim of the jars with a damp paper towel before putting on the hot self-sealing lids and rings. The heat of the brine will seal the lids down with a "POP". If any don't seal down, store in the fridge and eat first. These pickles should be ready to eat in 2 weeks, although at times its been difficult to wait that long.

As always, remove the rings from your jars before storing on your pantry shelf, but only AFTER the lids have sealed themselves down to the jars. I usually remove the rings after the two weeks waiting is up.
 

rockytopsis

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Blurose, I just made the second recipe you posted. Got it from a friend and it was a little different in that it called for the jars to be heated in the oven, I boiled mine for 10 minutes anyway.

The one I have does not say how long before the pickles were ready, so thanks for posting about 2 weeks. All mine sealed but am keeping them in the fridge anyway. I did 11 jars and have 1 quart of brine that I saved and may do a few more as I get cukes.

Nancy
 

mirime

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When I work up the courage to try pickles again, THESE are the recipes I'll try. Thanks so much!
 

Dace

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blurose said:
[
Blu's cold-pack Dill Pickles

In each hot jar place fresh dill, 1 garlic clove and 1 tiny red pepper. Pack in as many washed whole pickling cucs as the jar will hold while leaving 1/2 inch of headroom.

Heat the water, vinegar, salt and alum to a boil. Pour solution over pickles in jars. Make sure to wipe clean the rim of the jars with a damp paper towel before putting on the hot self-sealing lids and rings. The heat of the brine will seal the lids down with a "POP". If any don't seal down, store in the fridge and eat first. These pickles should be ready to eat in 2 weeks, although at times its been difficult to wait that long.
You don't water bath them? I thought that was a must...can some one explain?
 

blurose

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The amount of salt and vinegar in these pickles, makes processing unnecessary. Just store in a cool, dark place. The jars seal from the hot brine, as they cool. The brine must be boiling hot when added to the jars.
 

freshfood

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I don't have dill in my garden (yet!), so any idea how much dill seed from the store would be a good starting point? I have lots of extra cukes in the fridge, want to do something with them before they go soft! Yippee for an easy pickle recipe!:ya
 

valmom

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I have done 2 batches of dill pickles with what sounds very similar to your second recipe- I am waiting to taste them!

Great idea for saving the brine- I was having trouble with saving cukes to make a batch and not having them get soft before I had enough to put up. I was thinking of ways to save the cukes- it makes great sense to save the brine instead and just make up however many jars you have cukes for!
 

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