Pickle recipes

I've got to do something with my cucumbers. Although I love dill pickles, I've never tasted a "homemade" dill pickle that I cared for. For some reason, the "store bought" dills taste better.

That said, what are some of your favorite pickle recipes?

The Ball Blue Book recipe for crock pickles is the closest I've found to buying a whole pickle out of the jar on the store counter wrapped in wax paper. I can those; my wife use's a sweeter recipe when she cans!

Bread and butter pickles are a favorite at my house. (wonder if I can get pickling cucumbers here? I can buy little bitty cukes to make French cornichons, but I've never looked for the other kind)

boffer wrote:The Ball Blue Book recipe for crock pickles is the closest I've found to buying a whole pickle out of the jar on the store counter wrapped in wax paper. I can those; my wife use's a sweeter recipe when she cans!

Which one is that, boffer? I don't see anything in my Blue Book with that label?

My mom made bread and butter pickles when I was growing up. I hated them at the time... liked the sweet storebought gherkins. Finally developed a taste for the bread'n'butters on the VERY last jar. Can't wait to make my own!

page 45

they call it 'brined dill pickles'-I just happened to have a crock to do the brining in

boffer wrote:page 45

they call it 'brined dill pickles'-I just happened to have a crock to do the brining in

Ah ha, thank you! Mine's on page 47, I guess because I just bought my book a few weeks ago. (It is marked as 2009, though... 100th anniversary editiion!)

I REALLY need to get that book.

ske wrote:I REALLY need to get that book.

Whatever you do, do not do what I did, and bring the unread book to work and start skimming it just before going out to lunch! Oh, boy, did I make myself hungry!

Megan wrote:

ske wrote:I REALLY need to get that book.

Whatever you do, do not do what I did, and bring the unread book to work and start skimming it just before going out to lunch! Oh, boy, did I make myself hungry!

Like I said, I REALLY need to get that book! LOL!

LOL....

Tell you one thing that book did make me do... I went out and bought some dill plants. A number of recipes measure dill by the head, ack!

(I have no idea how much dill seed from a jar makes one head of dill, though I do know what a dill head is/looks like.)

I am a half sour pickle person! I load them up with garlic and some dill and a little bit of pickling spice and mmm mmm mmm are they good.

I am also interested in the ball blue book recipe, but I don't want to buy a book to get it, since I probably won't do any other canning. Any way you could post it on here?

lisaphoto wrote:I am also interested in the ball blue book recipe, but I don't want to buy a book to get it, since I probably won't do any other canning. Any way you could post it on here?

Here are recipes from their website. I supose they are the same recipes from the book but I don't know for sure. Maybe someone who has the book can see if they are the same.

http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/all_recipes/215.php?recipID=209&pageNum=1

Megan wrote:
(I have no idea how much dill seed from a jar makes one head of dill, though I do know what a dill head is/looks like.)

Usually one to two teaspoons of dill seed substitutes for a head of dill. Just make sure your dill seed is fresh. If it has no aroma, don't use it. It won't have exactly the same flavor as fresh dill, but it still works.

I have a sweet pickle relish recipe that I make every year. I think I posted it already on another thread, but I can repost it if anyone's interested.

ander217 wrote:

Megan wrote:
(I have no idea how much dill seed from a jar makes one head of dill, though I do know what a dill head is/looks like.)

Usually one to two teaspoons of dill seed substitutes for a head of dill. Just make sure your dill seed is fresh. If it has no aroma, don't use it. It won't have exactly the same flavor as fresh dill, but it still works.

I have a sweet pickle relish recipe that I make every year. I think I posted it already on another thread, but I can repost it if anyone's interested.

I'm interested. Thanks!

Sweet Pickle Relish

10 c. cucumbers, ground (green tomatoes or zucchini may be substituted, but I prefer cukes)
4 c. onions, ground
1 large red sweet pepper, ground (optional, for color)
3 Tbsp. canning salt
2 1/4. white vinegar
3 1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
2 tsp. celery seed
Turmeric (optional for color - sprinkle and stir until desired color is reached)

Grind vegetables, add salt, and mix together. Cover with water. Let set, covered, overnight. Drain and rinse in cool water. Squeeze out as much moisture as possible with hands. (I do it by handfuls.)

Place veggies in kettle and add vinegar, sugar, and spices. Bring to boil and simmer 30 minutes. Can in pint jars. Water bath 10 minutes.
Makes about six pints.

The original recipe also included black pepper and nutmeg to taste, but I omit them.

I've tried several ways to grind the veggies, from using a food grinder, to the food processor bowl, to the food processor grating blade. The blade in the processor bowl ground the veggies too fine - I went from coarse to mush too quickly, - and the processor grating blade left the pieces longer than I like, - kind of stringy, -but those will work if you don't have a food grinder. The grinder attachment on my mom's old mixer worked the best of all.

Thanks so much for posting not only the recipe but the tips as well. It sounds really tastey.

I am growing "pepino" cukes that are supposedly good for pickling or slicing. Any favorites or recommendations for cucumber choices?

Chopper wrote:I am growing "pepino" cukes that are supposedly good for pickling or slicing. Any favorites or recommendations for cucumber choices?

Think I'll jump on that bandwagon too, Chopper. I am growing Poona Kheera. Anyone ever tried pickling with that??

I've got tons...and I mean TONS of patty pan squash. I ran across this idea for patty pans so thought I would share.
http://www.foodinjars.com/2011/08/pickled-baby-pattypan-squash/


Bread and butter patty pans:
http://www.carolegbert.com/patty-pickles-patty-pan-pickles

This recipe sounds really good
http://localkitchenblog.com/2010/07/23/can-jam-pattypan-pickles/

Ander, Can you please repost the recipe for Sweet Pickle Relish?  Can this be canned in a hot water bath?  Thanks!

Never mind.  I see it.

Rahab, I'm glad you found your answer since Ander's post was from 4 years ago!

This is what I see:


If you don't see a date, including year, where the red arrow is pointing, you can change the date format by clicking  on 'Profile' in the green nav bar at the top of the page, then clicking on the 'Preferences' tab.  At the bottom of that page, you can choose a date format that includes the year.

On SFG Foundation Facebook this morning. http://www.sbcanning.com/2011/06/what-is-best-type-of-cucumber-for.html