Uncle Bill's Dill Pickles

Total Time: 16 hrs 10 mins Preparation Time: 16 hrs Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 8 lbs young fresh dill cucumbers
• 8 large dill weed, heads and stems
• 5 large carrots, peeled and sliced into wedges
• 20 garlic cloves
• 4 medium jalapeno peppers (optional)
• 12 pieces horseradish root
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar
• 4 tablespoons pickling salt or 4 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

Recipe

• 1 preparation of dill cukes the night before.
• 2 remove blossom ends and stems and discard.
• 3 place dill cukes into a large tub or a clean laundry tub.
• 4 cover with cold water.
• 5 add 2 bags of ice cubes or 1 block of ice.
• 6 let chill overnight.
• 7 brine.
• 8 in a cooking pot, add water, vinegar, pickling salt and brown sugar and bring to boil.
• 9 boil for 2 minutes.
• 10 prepare 4- 1 quart wide mouth canning jars by washing well with soap and water and then rinsing well with hot water.
• 11 place jars upside down on the rack in the oven and heat at 325 f for about 15 minutes.
• 12 wash and drain dill cukes.
• 13 place 1 dill head and stem in the bottom of each jar.
• 14 stuff the jars with cukes, vertically.
• 15 stuff a few sliced carrots, 5 garlic cloves and 4 horseradish pieces in the voids between the cukes in each jar.
• 16 stuff one jalapeno pepper into each jar.
• 17 place another dill head and stem on top of the cukes in each jar.
• 18 fill jars with hot brine to within 1/2" of top of jars.
• 19 make sure that none of the dill head is touching the top of the jar.
• 20 push the dill heads down if necessary.
• 21 wipe tops of jars clean.
• 22 prepare canning lids according to manufacturers instructions.
• 23 place lids on jars and screw on screw tops finger tight only.
• 24 prepare a canner and bring water to a boil.
• 25 place jars in rack with lids up and immerse in the boiling water.
• 26 boil or process for 10 minutes.
• 27 remove jars onto a dish towel and cover with another dish towel to cool.
• 28 jars are sealed when the lids pop and are concave (curved down).
• 29 should any jar not seal, just remove the lid and discard and place another prepared lid and repeat the process.
• 30 when cooled and sealed, label jars and store in a cool, dark place.
• 31 allow 4 to 5 weeks for flavors to develop before using.
• 32 this recipe makes 4- 1 quart jars and requires 12 to 16 dill cukes for each quart depending on the size of the cukes.
• 33 dill cukes should be 4" to 5" long and as fresh as possible.