Ball Canning Recipes For Cucumbers

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Steps:

• 1 Rinse the cucumbers under cold running water, and trim any that are longer than 5 inches so that they'll fit comfortably in the jar. Cut each cucumber lengthwise into quarters. Place the spears in a large, clean container (such as a 12- to 18-quart food-safe plastic pail or basin). Combine 1 gallon of the water and 6 tablespoons of the salt in a large pitcher, stirring until the salt dissolves. Pour over the cucumbers; cover and let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Drain; rinse under cold running water, and drain. 2 Combine remaining 1 quart water, vinegar, next 2 ingredients, and remaining 1⁄4 cup salt in a stainless-steel or enameled saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar dissolve. 3 Place 2 of the dill sprigs and 1 teaspoon of the mustard seeds into a hot jar, and pack tightly with the cucumber spears. Ladle the hot pickling liquid over the spears, leaving 1⁄2-inch headspace. Add 1⁄8 teaspoon Ball® Pickle Crisp® Granules to jar, if desired. Remove air bubbles. Wipe the jar rim. Center the lid on the jar. Apply the band, and adjust to fingertip-tight. Place the jar in the boiling water canner. Repeat until all the jars are filled. 4 Process the jars 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove the lid, and let the jars stand 5 minutes. Remove the jars and cool.

DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Wash cucumbers well.
• Chill cucumbers overnight in fridge, or, let soak in a tub or sink of ice water for several hours.
• Trim both ends off the cucumbers, then halve or quarter them lengthwise. Set aside in a large bowl.
• Put the vinegar, water and pickling spice (in a spice bag) in a pot. Add salt (or salt sub) and sugar, (or liquid stevia.)
• Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for 15 minutes.
• In each half-litre (US pint) jar put: 1 bay leaf, 1 peeled clove garlic, 1 teaspoon dill seed, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes per jar, 1/8th teaspoon pickle crisp. (Double all these measurements for litre / US quart jars.)
• Pack raw cucumber halves or quarters upright into the jars. Leave 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.
• Fill each jar with the vinegar mixture up to 2 cm (1/2 inch) from the top.
• If you are short of the vinegar mixture, top up the jars with either pure vinegar or a mixture of half vinegar / half water (do NOT use all water.) Bring your top up liquid to a quick boil in the microwave; mind the surge when removing.
• Debubble, adjust headspace.
• Wipe jar rims.
• Put lids on.
• Process in a water bath or steam canner.
• Process either size jar for 15 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.

DILL PICKLE RECIPE FOR CANNING

Steps:

• Start your water bath canner in a pot big enough to hold 5 one pint mason jars. The water (and the pot!) should be deep enough once the jars are added there is at least 1 inch of water above the top of the jars. Bring the pot to a boil.
• Prepare a brine by bringing 4 cups water, 4 cups vinegar and 1/2c salt to a boil.
• While the brine and canner are coming up to a boil, gently wash cucumbers to remove any dirt and nip off both ends. Either leave the cucumbers whole or slice into 1/2inch slices.
• At the bottom of each wide mouth pint mason jar, add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, dill seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and the dill heads or fresh herb sprigs.
• Pack tightly with pickles and a few slices of onion. Top 2 with 2-3 garlic cloves. Be sure to leave 1 inch of headspace above the pickles.
• Cover with brine to just submerge the vegetables, being sure to leave 1/2 inch of headspace above the top level of the brine.
• Cap and band mason jars to just finger tight and place into boiling water in your water bath canner. Process for 10 minutes for pints (or 15 min for quarts) below 1000 feet of elevation. (15 minutes for pints at 1,000-6,000 feet)