I've been making excellent dill pickles for years with a recipe that was passed down for ages, but it doesn't call for processing in a water bath canner, so I know that it technically is not considered safe by modern standards. Without processing, the pickles are very crisp. The recipe makes them in quart jars, so I looked through some pickling recipes, and noted that most of them call for processing quarts of pickles for 15 minutes in a water bath. I made my recipe exactly as before, but processed them for 15 minutes. I got what I feared would happen - mushy pickles. The recipe is posted below. Can any people who successfully make pickles look over it, suggest anything I could be doing wrong, or suggest a similar recipe that would be safe. Or...should I just keep making them the way I have been (fill the packed jars with boiling brine and seal, and hope I don't get poisoned
).
Recipe:
Pack washed pickling cucumbers into quart jars.
Add to each jar 2 pods of hot pepper, 4 pods of garlic, and 1 teaspoon dill seed.
Mix 1 quart vinegar, 2 quarts water, 3/4 cup pickling salt, and one tablespoon alum and bring to a boil.
Pour boiling brine mixture into jars, seal, and don't open for two months.
Makes approximately 5 quarts
I don't think that is enough vinegar to be safe. I think it needs to be 50/50 or more vinegar.
I'm using small and firm pickling cucumbers, but when I process roximately 5 quarts
I'm using small and firm pickling cucumbersI process this for 15 minutes, I get mushy pickles. Should I: for 15 minutes, I get mushy pickles. Should I:
1. Shorten processing time
2. Make some change to the recipe
3. Just do it the way I always have, and hope no one gets poisoned
Is 2 to 1 water to vinegar acidic enough to be safe?
Help!
Thanks.
Allen B.