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- Write down everything you do!
You won't remember next year. I lost my recipe proceedure the first three years I did it.
- Locate a u-pick farm with cucumbers.
Call, search, ask around for a u-pick farm that has pickling cucumbers for less than a dollar a pound.
Or you can buy a 25lb bag. I like to pick my own so I get the size and quality I want, but weirdly, it's more expensive to u-pick.
- Get from Goodwill, yardsales, craigslist...
- Go to a u-pick farm.
Pick a 5 gallon bucket of small cucumbers at about $.70 a pound.
25lbs. of cucumbers will make about 20 quarts of pickles.
Avoid any cukes that are bigger than 1" in diameter.
Try to get cukes that are not swollen and have lots of spiney
pimples; they stay crisper.
Go to the Store and buy:
- Look for a grape vineyard on the way to the farm.
Pick twentysome grape leaves.
Same day or next day at most.
- Clean your kitchen.
- Wash the jars and lids and rings.
- Wash the Cukes and grape leaves.
- Start the water boilng in the canning pot
Enough to cover the 7 jars.
- Lay out the jars.
- Put in each jar:
- Stuff as many uncut cukes in a jar as possible.
This is the hardest part about canning pickles.
(you'll get a lot of space the first year then figure it out.)
- Boil the brine in a spagehetti pot:
- Top off the stuffed jars with brine.
Leave 1/2 inch of headroom.
- Put the lids on.
Not real tight. Just screwed down.
Avoid touching the glass rim of the jar if you can.
- Boil the pickles in the bath for 10 minutes.
- Get the next batch of brine started.
- Take out processed pickles to cool on a towel on the floor.
- When you're done, don't put away your canner...
Next day....
- Test the lid seals.
Press on them with your finger.
If they pop or click, they didn't seal.
Put on new lids and re-processed them in a bath.
They are ready to eat in about 2 weeks and will keep for at least a year.
Kona's Simplified Pictorial Instructions
Go to Kona's Archived pickling logs. These are the logs dating from 1999 to the present. They're mostly good for tracking prices!How I Make Pickles
You won't remember next year. I lost my recipe proceedure the first three years I did it.
- Locate a u-pick farm with cucumbers.
Call, search, ask around for a u-pick farm that has pickling cucumbers for less than a dollar a pound.
Or you can buy a 25lb bag. I like to pick my own so I get the size and quality I want, but weirdly, it's more expensive to u-pick.
- Get from Goodwill, yardsales, craigslist...
- A 21 Qt. Canning pot with wire basket
- Two dozen WIDE MOUTH quart jars with lids and rings
- I only use wide mouth for everything. Ignore regular mouth jars no matter how cheap.
- A Six Quart Cooking Pot ie. spaghetti pot
- Some buckets
- Jar Tongs (x2)
- A canning funnel
- Towels
- Soft scrub brush
- Timer
- Ladle
- Go to a u-pick farm.
Pick a 5 gallon bucket of small cucumbers at about $.70 a pound.
25lbs. of cucumbers will make about 20 quarts of pickles.
Avoid any cukes that are bigger than 1" in diameter.
Try to get cukes that are not swollen and have lots of spiney
pimples; they stay crisper.
Go to the Store and buy:
- 2 big heads of garlic (not elephant!)
- One bunch of dill (used most of it)
- 3 TBSP mustard seed (bulk)
- 3 TBSP peppercorns (bulk)
- Pickling salt (one 4 lb. box was more than enough.)
- Vinegar (one gallon makes about 25 quarts of cukes)
- Look for a grape vineyard on the way to the farm.
Pick twentysome grape leaves.
Same day or next day at most.
- Clean your kitchen.
- Wash the jars and lids and rings.
- Wash the Cukes and grape leaves.
- Start the water boilng in the canning pot
Enough to cover the 7 jars.
- Lay out the jars.
- Put in each jar:
- one head of Dill
- one peeled garlic clove
- 10 peppercorns
- 6 mustard seeds
- 1/2 a grape leaf. (grape leaf keeps them crisp)
- Stuff as many uncut cukes in a jar as possible.
This is the hardest part about canning pickles.
(you'll get a lot of space the first year then figure it out.)
- Boil the brine in a spagehetti pot:
- 7 Cups of Water
- 4 Cups of White Vinegar
- 1/2 cup + 2 TBSP salt. (10 TBSP)
- Top off the stuffed jars with brine.
Leave 1/2 inch of headroom.
- Put the lids on.
Not real tight. Just screwed down.
Avoid touching the glass rim of the jar if you can.
- Boil the pickles in the bath for 10 minutes.
- Get the next batch of brine started.
- Take out processed pickles to cool on a towel on the floor.
- When you're done, don't put away your canner...
Next day....
- Test the lid seals.
Press on them with your finger.
If they pop or click, they didn't seal.
Put on new lids and re-processed them in a bath.
They are ready to eat in about 2 weeks and will keep for at least a year.
Keywords: picking pictorial pickle pickling packing picture canned canner canning cucumber