Our Recipe for Kosher Dill Pickles

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
TasunkaWitko

TasunkaWitko

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
Messages
2,824
Reaction score
984
Location
Chinook
Our Recipe for Kosher Dill Pickles

It's that time of year, and to me there are no pickles better than the ones that my parents would always make. They were the best I've ever had, and when I made them a few years ago, I was happy to see that I'd been able to make them just as good (well?).

The recipe came from an old Ball or Kerr book that was my grandmother's (circa 1974), with a few "house modifications" that really made for a great jar of pickles, and uses no sugar or pre-mixed "pickling spices."

The only real downside is that the pickles tend to be a just bit on the soft side rather than crunchy, but they were so good that I never cared. Using alum or "pickle crisp" may or may not take care of this one small "deficiency," but I don't recall that we ever tried using it, and I have no idea if using these would modify the taste. The truth is that it's not really necessary - they are only slightly soft and do not seem to get any softer with the passage of time. This might also be affected by the processing time.

With that, I am posting our family recipe here in the event that someone wants to try a really, really good pickle.

KosherDillPickles-2013.jpg


TasunkaWitko's Grandma's Kosher-Style Dill Pickles

For 3 quarts of pickles:

Brine:

3 Cups white vinegar
3 Cups distilled water
6 Tablespoons canning/pickling salt

Spices per quart jar (amount varies to taste):

2 to 3 Sprigs of fresh dill, or the equivalent in dried dill weed and/or seed (2 to 3 teaspoons, perhaps?)
2 to 3 Large garlic cloves
1 to 2 Bay leaves
2 to 3 Teaspoons mustard seed
1 to 2 small, dried, hot red peppers (cayenne, japone etc.), or 1 to 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

Wash the cucumbers. Cut them into spears or slices as you prefer (whole would probably work, too); size is of course a factor. Make a brine of the vinegar, water, and salt. Bring brine to boil; then, reduce to a simmer and cover, so that there is no evaporation (evaporation will concentrate the brine and make it too salty).

Place a generous layer of dill and the rest of the spices (per the list above or to taste) in the bottom of each sterilized quart jar. Pack the cucumbers into the jars. When the jars are half filled with cucumbers, add more dill and complete the packing of the jars.

Fill the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top with the boiling brine. Put caps on jars; snug the band down, but not too tight. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Remove with tongs and place on a towel in a draft-free area to cool. Check the seal.
Click to expand...
 
Hi, Normonster -

My dad eats them after a couple of days, and says that they're great - but I prefer to give them a couple of weeks, just to let all of the flavours marry and develop. If a person were in a hurry, I'd say that a week would probably be just fine, but no less, in my opinion.
 
Hi, Blue -

Yep, that is a photo taken from a batch I made two years ago. Using the fresh dill is always the way to go, in my opinion, but I did find that the dried dill weed/seeds sold in stores make a decent enough substitute.

We normally use 2 to 3 "sprigs" of dill in each quart jar. It seems about right, with a good balance of the fronds and seeds.
 
Thank you Tasu! I've been doing Sour Kraut lately and just fermented a
Bunch of Tomatoes too (which I'm afraid to eat).

I'll give this a try for sure!
 
We've got some sauerkraut going, too - about 5.5 quarts of it, if I remember correctly. It SHOULD be pretty good stuff, I think! As for Tomatoes, we've been canning them as fast as they come in from the garden - Tomatoes are one thing that we eat a lot of, so the more the better, as far as I am concerned. I haven't tried fermented tomatoes, but I am guessing that they would be pretty interesting, actually. Let us know how they turn out!
 
The cure for soft pickles may be brining the intact cucumber, blossom end and stem end on, before processing. I say may be a cure because I've only been making dill pickles for three years. I use three-quarters cup of canning/pickling salt in two gallons of water. Time in the brine is twelve hours.

We had a bumper crop this year, and the vines are still blossoming. Made five more quarts yesterday and quit. Gave away two five gallon buckets of cucumbers yesterday plus about fifteen gallons worth previously. Have over thirty quarts of garlic/dills this year, and have about twenty-four quarts left over from last year.

I stopped harvesting green beans also. I'm canned out.
 
tried a couple tonite for the first time and they were extremely salty,,,,,,,,,,,gonna cut the amount of salt in half for the next batch. This batch will go to friends for their Bloody Mary's
 

Similar threads

Clint Yeastwood
Pickled Eggs, Beer Cheese, and McSorley's Cheddar Plate
Replies
10
Views
889
shavy
shavy
H
Coors Banquet
Replies
0
Views
848
huckdavidson
H
F
session vikings blood attempt
Replies
5
Views
748
fluketamer
F
J
Sauerkraut is bubbling and overflowing
Replies
3
Views
1K
Jokester
J
sibelman
Mole Porter
Replies
6
Views
2K
sibelman
sibelman
BrewSwag 300

Latest posts

Back
Top