Brine Dill Pickle Food

HOMEMADE DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Place water, salt, and garlic into a large saucepan. Add cloves, bay leaves, coriander seeds, and black peppercorns. Stir until salt is dissolved. Heat over low for just a few minutes to bring water to room temperature. The water should not be warm.
• Place some dill flowers in the bottom of a jar or crock large enough to hold the cucumbers, spices, and some brine. Place a few of the cucumbers on top of the dill weed. Alternate layers of dill flowers and cucumbers, ending with a layer of dill. Pour pickling brine into the crock. Gently tap or shake the crock to eliminate any air bubbles. Weigh down the pickles with a small ramekin to ensure they stay below the surface of the brining liquid. Top with more brine. Reserve any extra brine to add if necessary during the fermentation process. Cover crock.
• Place crock where it can ferment at a temperature between 65 and 75 degrees F. Let pickles ferment for a week, checking every day to ensure pickles remain submerged. Small bubbles may appear; this is a normal product of the fermentation process. Add more brine if necessary.
• After about 8 days, you can skim off the foam. Test a pickle for flavor and crunch. You can continue fermenting them for a couple more days or, if you like them at this point, transfer pickles to a large jar. Fill jar with the brine from the fermentation process. Cover and store finished pickles in the refrigerator.

DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Combine the salt and water in a pitcher and stir until the salt has dissolved.
• Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly and snip off the blossom end stem. Set aside.
• Place the peppercorns, pepper flakes, garlic, dill seed and fresh dill into a 1-gallon crock. Add the cucumbers to the crock on top of the aromatics. Pour the brine mixture over the cucumbers in order to completely cover. Pour the remaining water into a 1-gallon ziptop plastic bag and seal. Place the bag on top of the pickles making sure that all of them are completely submerged in the brine. Set in a cool, dry place.
• Check the crock after 3 days. Fermentation has begun if you see bubbles rising to the top of the crock. After this, check the crock daily and skim off any scum that forms. If scum forms on the plastic bag, rinse it off and return to the top of the crock.
• The fermentation is complete when the pickles taste sour and the bubbles have stopped rising; this should take approximately 6 to 7 days. Once this happens, cover the crock loosely and place in the refrigerator for 3 days, skimming daily or as needed. Store for up to 2 months in the refrigerator, skimming as needed. If the pickles should become soft or begin to take on an off odor, this is a sign of spoilage and they should be discarded.

CLASSIC GARLIC DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Wash and scrub lightly with a soft brush.
• Cut a thin slice from blossom ends to help prevent softening.
• Cut wide cucumbers into quarters lengthwise and long cucumbers so they fit in jars.
• Place in ice water bath while preparing everything else or up to 8 hours.
• Fill large pot or canner with water so that jars will be covered by 1" of water.
• Check jars for cracks, wash with warm soapy water, rinse well and place in canner.
• Heat jars in canner (no need to sterilize as final processing will be longer than 10 minutes).
• In medium size pot, combine vinegar, water and pickling salt. Bring to boil and simmer five minutes until salt is dissolved.
• Remove hot jars from canner.
• Place 2 dill heads, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp peppercorns and 1/8 tsp hot pepper flakes into each pint jar (double if using quart jars).
• Tightly pack cucumbers into jars to within 3/4 inch of rim.
• Add hot vinegar brine to cover cucumbers. Use a plastic utensil to remove any air bubbles and add more brine, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
• Wipe rim with clean cloth and seal with hot sealing lid. Screw band on top and tighten finger tight.
• Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes for pint (500 mL) jars or 15 minutes for quart (1 L) jars.
• Makes 4 pint (500 mL) jars or 2 quart (1 L) jars
• Processing time from National Center for Home Food Preservation. Remember to adjust cooking times if you're at altitudes higher than 1000 ft (306 m) above sea level.

BASIC PICKLE BRINE

Steps:

• Stir together 1 cup water and all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; cool 10 minutes. Pour over vegetables or fruits. Cover with a tight-fitting lid; chill 2 days. Store, covered, in refrigerator up to 2 months.

REFRIGERATOR DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Stir water, vinegar, sugar, and sea salt together in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil; remove from heat and cool completely.
• Combine cucumber spears, garlic cloves, and fresh dill in a large glass or plastic container. Pour cooled vinegar mixture over cucumber mixture. Seal container with lid and refrigerate for at least 3 days.

BLUE RIBBON DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• GET ALL OF THIS GOING BEFORE FILLING THE JARS.
• Wash 7 quart jars in hot, soapy water (or dishwasher), rinse and fill with hot water; set aside.
• Fill canning kettle half-full with hottest tap water; set on burner over high heat.
• In a medium saucepan, fit lids and rings together, cover with water, bring to a simmer.
• In a large saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to boil; turn off the heat; set aside.
• FILL JARS: place a layer of dill at the bottom of each jar, along with one garlic clove (if used), then TIGHTLY load the cukes into the jar to the NECK of the jar (depending on size you may get two nice layers with a few small cukes in the top--)---squeeze cukes into the jar tightly--uniform size helps; add a few TINY spriglets of dill at the top, too, and another garlic clove if desired.
• Once jars are loaded, pour in the brine leaving half-inch head space in each jar.
• Add lid and ring to each jar, tightening evenly.
• Place jars into canner with water JUST to the necks of the jars.
• Bring water ALMOST to a boil (about 15 minutes--depending on how fast it heats up).
• Remove jars, set on a dish towel on the kitchen counter, cover with another dish towel & let cool.
• Check for seal (indented lid), label jars or lids, store in cool dark cellar or cupboard.
• NOTES: When washing/scrubbing cukes, sort them into piles by size. This really helps make your jars look nicer, if you have uniform sizes (and this impresses the judges too!). And makes for easier packing, too.

BRINED GARLIC DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Wash cucumbers in cold water then dry on rack or wipe dry.
• Place half the pickle spices, garlic and a layer of dill in a 5 gallon crock or jar.
• Fill the container with cucumbers to within 3-4 inches from top.
• Place a layer of dill and remaining spices and garlic on top of cucumbers.
• Thoroughly mix the vinegar, salt and water and pour over the cucumbers.
• Cover with a heavy plate (weigh it down with a jar of water) so that the cucumbers stay under the brine.
• Cover loosely with a towel.
• Keep pickles at room temperature and remove scum daily when it forms, (3-5 days).
• Do not stir pickles but make sure they are always covered with brine.
• If necessary make additional brine using original recipe.
• In about 3 weeks the cucumbers should be olive green and have a desirable flavor.
• Any white spots will disappear in processing.
• Strain the brine before using as it is preferred for the added flavor.
• Pack pickles firmly into clean, hot quart jars.
• Add several pieces of dill and a clove or two of garlic to each jar, then cover with boiling brine to 1/2 inch from top.
• Adjust lids and process 15 minutes in water bath, beginning the time as soon as the jars are in the actively boiling water.
• Cloudiness of brine is typical when the original brine is used as the covering liquid.

QUICK PICKLES WITH MASTER VINEGAR BRINE

Steps:

• Place a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet or line it with a clean towel. (This is to prevent the jars from directly touching the surface.) Set aside.
• Meanwhile, sterilize the jars and lids. To sterilize jars using a boiling water canner or a large pot, place a rack (or often I will use a clean kitchen towel) on the bottom of the canner. Place the jars right-side-up on the rack and fill the jars and canner with enough water to cover the jars by at least 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil, then boil for 10 minutes (at altitudes less than 1,000 feet elevation). Using canning tongs, remove the jars from the canner one at a time, carefully pouring the water from the jars back into the canner. Let the jars air-dry upside-down on the prepared rack or towel and sit undisturbed until you're ready to fill them. The rings and rubber-lined lids must be sterilized, too. Place the new lids in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a gentle simmer. Very gently simmer for 10 minutes (taking care not to boil). Turn off the heat and keep the lids in the water until ready to use.
• Bring 2 1/2 cups water, the vinegar and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, place 1 dill sprig or 1 teaspoon dill seed, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, 1/4 teaspoon peppercorns in the bottom of each of 4 sterilized glass jars with tight lids. Divide the red pepper flakes among the jars. Set aside.
• Wash and trim the stem end of the beans so that they fit in the jar. (I like to leave the pretty curled end intact.) Pack the beans into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace at the top of each jar. Carefully pour the boiling pickling liquid over the green beans in the jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom between the top of the liquid and the top of the jar. Seal with the lids and rings. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.