Pickling season is here. If you don't have any in a garden you can harvest, check at your local grocery or Farmers' Market for pickling cucumbers and pickle away. Pickles are pretty easy to do, but the fresh refrigerator pickles, well you could have your children make them with a little supervising.
--Oh, what are pickling cucumbers? They are cucumbers especially suited to making pickles as their skins are especially tender. Grow them or buy them as they will give you the best results for your pickling efforts. Salad cukes are very much darker than pickling cukes. As you can see on below, picklers are lighter in color, can have more yellowish areas and are quite warty and bumpy.
If you find or grow pickling cucumbers select those that are evenly sized and still have lengthwise ridges; they will look almost shriveled, but actually feel very firm. Avoid the large ones that look yellowish and bulbous as these will soft pickles. Make sure they are hefty for their weight and when you squeeze them gently, they should not feel hollow. For sure, try them in a summer salad, or as sticks for a dip.
Remember also that there are a lot of ways to use pickles, and leftover pickle brine. Put pickles in egg salad, sandwiches (of course), burgers (not a sandwich, it's a BURGER!), or into tater salad--it's almost time to start really grilling. Mix chopped pickles with a bit of chopped onion, a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, salt, pepper, maybe a big pinch of dried dillweed (that you dried yourself!), a little granulated garlic and mayo--what do you have: a great tartar sauce for using on grilled fish. And use that leftover tartar sauce as a dressing for some fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, it's dang good. There is always the pickle pop: put a cold pickle on a popsicle stick and much away! And you could put some other things on that stick, like tomatoes and cheese, maybe some ham, and call it an appetizer. . .
Of course you could try a peanut butter and pickle sandwich. I won't, but if you do, could you let me know what you though of it?
These refrigerator pickles are tasty and quick, not too much fuss, and you store 'em in the fridge and chow down! This recipe is great for beginner picklers.
Refrigerator Kosher Dill Pickle Spears
Recipe adapted from: Christian, K. and Barefoot, S. (2015rev). Put It Up! Food Preservation for Youth. Athens, Georgia: National Center for Home Food Preservation. Retrieved from nchfp.uga.edu.
makes about 4 pint jars
3½ pounds of about 4-inch long pickling cucumbers (about 14)
2 cups water
1 cup distilled or cider vinegar (5% acidity)
¼ cup Ball® Kosher Dill Pickle Mix*
Sterilize empty jars by filling them with water and putting them right side up on the rack in a boiling water canner. Fill the canner with hot (not boiling) water to 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Boil 10 minutes at altitudes of less than 1,000 ft. At higher elevations, boil 1 additional minute for each additional 1,000 ft. elevation. Leave jars in the canner until use. Allow cooling to near room temperature.
Rinse cucumbers in a colander immediately before using. Scrub well, giving special attention to the area around the stems. Remove a 1/8 inch slice off each end of the cucumbers with a knife.
Slice cucumbers lengthwise in half, then in half lengthwise again until you have created spears. Place spears in a large bowl.
Measure and add water, vinegar and Ball® Kosher Dill Pickle Mix into a medium saucepan. Stir briefly and then turn burner to high heat to bring to a boil. Turn off heat, then pour/ladle hot pickling liquid carefully over cucumber spears in the large bowl. Let sit until the liquid cools to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
Using a jar lifter, remove jars from canner, empty them, and place them on a flat surface that is insulated from the cold counter with a couple of clean dishtowels or larger towel. With clean/gloved hands, pack cucumber spears to fit tightly without mashing into the jars; this will help to keep your pickle spears from floating. Trim spears if needed to make sure 1/2-inch at the top of the jar is left empty—you should probably trim them just a little shorter than this to insure they will be covered by brine but still have the correct1/2 inch headspace.
Ladle pickling liquid into jars leaving ½-inch headspace (from the top of the liquid to the top of the jar rim). Use bubble wand/freer or non metallic spatula to release any air bubbles that are trapped in each jar. Measure headspace with headspace tool to ensure it is ½-inch. Add or remove liquid with a spoon if needed to maintain ½-inch headspace, and make sure all spears are completely covered by liquid.
Wipe jar rims with clean, damp paper towel. Apply lids and ring bands, turning bands securely onto jars, but do not “wrench” them on.
Mark jars with date an place them in the refrigerator. You can eat within just a few days, but for best flavor, refrigerate for 3 weeks before eating, then share with family and friends! Be sure to keep them refrigerated and eat them all up within 3 months!
And then here's a boiling-water-processed larger batch for your off-the-shelf convenience:
Quick Fresh-Pack Dill Pickles
- 8 lbs of 3- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers
- 2 gals water
- 1¼ cups canning or pickling salt
- 1½ qts vinegar (5 percent)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 quarts water
- 2 tbsp whole mixed pickling spice
- about 3 tbsp whole mustard seed (2 tsp to 1 tsp per pint jar)
- about 14 heads of fresh dill (1½ heads per pint jar)
or
4½ tbsp dill seed (1½ tsp per pint jar)
Yield: 7 to 9 pints
Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.
Procedure: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼-inch of stem attached. Dissolve ¾ cup salt in 2 gals water. Pour over cucumbers and let stand 12 hours. Drain. Combine vinegar, ½ cup salt, sugar and 2 quarts water. Add mixed pickling spices tied in a clean white cloth. Heat to boiling. Fill jars with cucumbers. Add 1 tsp mustard seed and 1½ heads fresh dill per pint. Cover with boiling pickling solution, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations in Table 1 or use the low- temperature pasteurization treatment. For more information see "Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment" .
This document was adapted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA, revised 2015.
Reviewed February 2018.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can6b_pickle.html Pickling at the NCHFP
http://nchfp.uga.edu/questions/FAQ_pickle.html Pickling FAQ
