Cold-Canned Dill Pickles

We make jars and jars of these every year. They last through the winter and they are super easy to make in large batches.

The recipe is for one quart. We line up about 40 Ball quart-sized jars and use about 16-20 quarts of small picking cucumbers.

You will need Ball wide-mouth quart-sized glass canning jars, Ball lids, and Ball bands. New jars come with lids and bands. You can also buy just the lids or the lid/band combos.

Before you do anything you must sterilize the jars and lids. The jars can be run right through the dishwasher. The lids and rings can be boiled on the stove for about 10 minutes.

In each quart jar add:
1/8 cup of salt
2 tablespoons of mustard seeds
1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar
1-2 large fresh dill flower heads
1/4 of a fresh white onion
1-3 cloves of garlic smashed

Once all that is in the jar, add the cukes. We usually quarter them longways. Put them in the jar neatly longways and cram in as many as you can. If there are super small ones then we leave them whole in their own jar. We also make a couple jars of hamburger slices.

Once the cukes are in the jars, fill them up to just 1/4 inch below the brim of the jar. Put the lid on and then screw on the ring as tight as you can get it. Give the jars a good shake and put them in the fridge upside down. The jars will seal themselves.

Every day for the first week, turn the jars, rotating daily from upside down to right side up.

At the second week, stop turning the jars and let them sit for at least another week before you try them. If they don't taste ready, let them sit for another week.

Make sure you test from the same jar each time so that you aren't opening more jars than necessary.