Making Dill PIckles

[KatMom]

I was wondering. I like dill pickles but I prefer them without the garlic. Can I Just leave out the garlic in the recipes? It just seems like most of them include garlic. Katmom

[Violet]

Sure, you can leave out the garlic if you don't like it.

Just be sure your recipe is current and has enough added acid to keep it safe. It needs a brine with at least half 5 % acidity vinegar to water ratio if this is a quick pack pickle and not a fermented one.

[Jake]

Some friends of mine find the 50-50 water to vinegar too sour so they want to use a recipe that is less vinegar than water. I tried to explain to them that it is not safe but they did their pickles the old way anyway. So this year I brought them a jar of mine to try and they really liked them and said they will try my recipe this year. I use a brine of 1 gallon vinegar, 1 gallon distilled water, 1 cup canning salt and 1 cup sugar. I add pickling spice in a sachet in the brine while it boils to add flavor then pack fresh dill and onion and garlic in the jars with the pickles. The sugar in the brine cuts the sour flavor of the vinegar without changing the acidity. They are really good this way. If I remember right you hot water bath them 10 minutes for pints and 15 for quarts.

 

 

[Violet]

Jake, I am glad you had them try some good pickles. It does help to add some sugar.

If they tasted a store bought one, they would find them to be just as tart. I have compared mine to the store ones, side by side.

I just can't understand even after teaching this stuff just how many people will risk safety over taste. Makes no sense to me at all.

The old recipes were just as tart, it is just that the vinegar was much stronger back then and the recipes are based on that highly acidic vinegar.

[Crazy4Canning]

Since we're talking of pickles, I had the compliment to beat all a few weeks ago. We were at a friend's house for dinner and she put out some small pickles (gherkins). My husband picks one up, smells it (he got that from me!) and licks it, gingerly biting into the tip. He quickly passed it on to me, "Oh honey, what do you think? It's a pickle!" They were store bought gherkins and they tasted like they were full of turpentine and preservatives.

 

I politely said, "Well, it tastes like a pickle." I had to make a relish tray that weekend so he could eat as many "tasty pickles" as he wanted.

 

Homemade IS SO MUCH BETTER!

[Joanna]

Sure, you can leave out the garlic if you don't like it.

Just be sure your recipe is current and has enough added acid to keep it safe. It needs a brine with at least half 5 % acidity vinegar to water ratio if this is a quick pack pickle and not a fermented one.

 

 

When you say brine do you mean letting them sit in the brine for a while before making them? I am in the middle of making a recipe from "Preserving the Harvest" that calls for letting the pickles sit in a brine at room temp for three weeks. Then boiling the brine and packing the pickles in it. I just want to make sure that it is safe and I'm not poisoning my family and friends. Has anyone else tried this?

[Violet]

Joanna,

That is fermenting and that is safe. It makes it's own natural acid. Let me know how they turn out !

The other method is quick pack. That is where you make a brine with at least half vinegar to water ratio. Pack the cukes in the jars, then put the boiling brine in the jars and process then.