Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Pickles

Tried to make some dill pickles last night.


Canned up 6 quarts. The damn things must have shrunk.....I had those jars packed tight!



Some questions before I can any more.


How long do I have to wait to try them?


They were run through the water bath canner. Worried I wont like them.....so I dont want to can a bunch more until I try them out.



I dont think I used enough dill. The recipe called for a head per jar. Not knowing any better, I bought the only dill I could find.


The dill I bought was in a plastic box. It does not look like a head....more like a "branch".


I only used one of those per jar. Thats why I think I did not use enough.



Is there a good substitute for a head of dill?

This is what I used instead of a "head" of dill



Is this going to be enough??

Jim- You need about 20 times that much per quart jar. A few garlic sections and some peppercorns or three are good too. You can google what a head looks like. It grows wild on my back lot.-Mike

Jim, I make pickles the non-canned way. Start with the vegetables, then throw them in crocks like this (one has tomatoes and carrots, the other pickling cukes)



I just use dried dill weed and dill seed, rather than the actual dill sprigs. For the big crock, I'll use about a handful of the dried dill weed you can get at a supermarket or online and for the little crock I'll use about half a handful. You really can't go wrong with too much dill, but too little and you'll notice the taste being off.

After adding the pickling spices, garlic cloves and alum, I cover everything with a saltwater brine mixture (sorta hard to explain how much canning salt to water, but it's about a half cup of salt to about 2 gallons of water, give or take based on taste. Then it's covered and put aside in the kitchen for a week and the fermentation usually is complete by then, and into the fridge they go. They'll last for many months in the fridge.

My wife makes dill pickles, and has done it several ways, with good pickles coming out each time. One of the best recipes is just to use the store bought Mrs. Wages mix. It's simple, and they eat good, so what's not to like about it.

I actually bought a bag of that mix yesterday.

I throw dill, garlic and a split habanero in mine.

How much dill Ed?


Grandma...who's recipe I have misplaced.....always said that the dill heads and bunches you throw in was for looks.


The dill seeds was what she liked to use most of.

never disregard what grandma says

You might be close Jim.
Mom never put huge amounts in hers.
But, it depends on it till is to be A flavor,
or,
THE flavor.

A pet peeve against when people allow the common flavor enhancer to become
the star, ie. pumpkin spice.

I put up 114 quarts this summer. If they’re cut into spears, wait for at least 4 weeks before you eat them. If they’re whole, wait at least 6 weeks before you eat them. Water, vinegar, salt, garlic, and dill is all you need.

Edwin264 what is your recipe?

That's about the amount of fresh dill I use, plus garlic and red pepper flakes. Garlic dills are damn good.

Nothing to add other than I like pickles. Pickled okra. Pickled cauliflower. Pickled about anything. Dill. Sweet. Hot. Bread and butter. All of it.

Klaussen dill pickles are the best store bought. Any recipe close to them would be a winner.

Thats no schit!

I would love to recreate those pickles.

You cant can them and have them turn out that way.

For a klaussen cold pack recipe, you can start with this, change spices to taste.

4 pounds halved cucumbers
8 large dill heads
6 garlic cloves quartered
8 cups filtered pure water
2 cups vinegar (white), cider vinegar can be used but the pickles get dark.
1/2 cup pickling salt, no iodine
4 TBS pickling spices or more to taste
optional 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or a whole hot pepper

Heat water, vinegar, salt, an spices to near boil. Cool liquid to room temp, ( I usually leave the broth to cool overnight) add cooled liquid, garlic, dill, cukes in a container, and refrigerate for at least 7 days, probably 10/12 is better. These will last in the fridge for a few months, but they will be eaten before that. You can also add halved green tomatoes. These are pretty addicting.
I usually "can" these in cheap tupper wear containers from walmart. Super easy to make.

I make these, and the fermented version, I don't can any pickles.

80 year old down the road puts up a lot of pickles and good ones at that. He uses dill seed. Says more consistent flavor but cost more. He also puts a couple garlic cloves unpeeled and a couple dried peppers.

Thats about what my grandmother said Farming.


Sounds like he makes a hell of a pickle.



TerryK....thanks very much for the recipe.

Thanks everyone.

. The pickled okra ain’t half bad either!

Very good Sir.