How to Make Dilled Pickles (Fresh Pak)

Today was the perfect day for canning, so I went out to the garden and harvested about 18 pounds of pickling cucumbers and 14 really nice dill weed stems from the vegetable garden and got busy.

I started off by cleaning the cucumbers and slicing off the flower end and stem too.
Once washed, I sliced them in half and placed them into a large container.

These cucumbers were not treated in any kind of brine prior to placing them into jars. This is a fresh pak method and does not require pre-treatment of any kind.

After my jars and lids were washed and sterilized, I filled the hot jars with the halves and set them aside. Each jar got a sprig of dill weed and one tablespoon of minced garlic. I used 1/8 of a teaspoon of “Pickle Crisp,” and then filled each jar with the brine recipe listed below.

With all of the air bubbles worked out and the jar tops wiped off, I covered each jar with a lid and band, just hand tight. Into the hot water bath canner they went for 15 minutes.

Once processed, I pulled them out to cool for 24 hours before I labeled them and put them into the pantry.




The following recipe is for 16 lbs. of pickling cucumbers, making 14 quarts. You can do the math to reduce, or increase if necessary.
2 quarts of water
2 quarts of white vinegar
6 tablespoons of pickling spice
1 and ½ cups of sugar
1 cup of pickling salt
One large sprig of dill weed per quart jar
1 tablespoon of minced garlic per quart jar
1/8 teaspoon of Pickle Crisp
Here’s the result of this recipe:

If you do not have canning equipment, here is a “starter canning kit” link. It’s a great kit. I started out with it and it has proven to be a great purchase.