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Monday, September 10, 2012

Dill pickles by the pint - Epic Fail

You know what I hate?   

Mushy pickles.  

I hate soft, mushy pickles.  

Ew.  

My dill pickles have been delicious, but mushy.  I hate that. 

I like crunchy pickles.  Like the bread and butter pickles I made a couple of weeks ago.  Remember that recipe I gave you so you could make bread and butter pickles by the pint jar instead of by the bushel?  

Basically, you soak the cukes in salt water for a while, then you boil the pickle juice, then you put the cukes in and return it to a boil, then you put them in a jar with some pickle crisp and seal them up.   And they come out crunchy.

So I was thinking we can do the same thing with dill pickles.   And then they'll be crunchy, too!  

This is what I did:

Slice the cukes and soak them in water with one tablespoon of salt for every pint.   You don't have to measure exactly.  Really, you can just guess.    And then stick them in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. 

Wash your jars and put this stuff in each jar:
  • 1 small clove of garlic, peeled
  • 1 large fresh dill flower or a bunch of fresh dill leaf
  • 1/8 tsp Ball Pickle Crisp
This is what you need for juice for each pint of pickles, so multiply this stuff by the number of pint jars you're making.  Mix this stuff in a pot and bring it to a boil.
  • 1 cup vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt
Drain the cukes and put them in the pot with the pickle juice.  Bring it back to a boil.  Put the cukes in the jars, pour the juice in, put the lids on and then seal them up.   10 minutes for pints.

Except it didn't work.

It.   Didn't.  Work. 

I got mushy soft pickles again.    Eww.    Don't use this recipe. 

So maybe the crunchy thing has to do with the sugar?      I have no freaking idea.   Back to the drawing board.