Water Bath Canning: From Cucumbers to the World's Best Spicy Pickle
So... you grow (or are thinking about growing) cucumbers in your garden this year... well, congratulations, you just struck internet gold.
This is the world's best spicy pickle recipe for water bath canning cucumbers that has ever been created by man (okay, this was voted on by one content creator who is wildly biased towards the recipe... considering he made it up--but that's beside the point)!
One of the joys of taking all the time to learn to grow, and successfully growing, your own food is actually eating the produce you produce. One thing you'll realize when you're growing food is the AMOUNT of food your garden actually produces... it's a LOT.
For instance, take the garden cucumber. These seeds are small, inconspicuous things, and, what seems innocent enough, actually turns into a LOT of food if you water and take care of them correctly. Trust me, my first year I planted 9 cucumber plants in my garden... and ate about 1/13 of what came out of the ground.
Some varieties of healthy cucumber plants can produce upwards of 10 cucumbers in one season. So if you plant 4 or 5 plants in your plot... that could mean 50 cucumbers. Rather than shoving all of your extra cucumbers into the unwelcoming arms of friends and family who have already received pounds of cucumbers like I did, or opening your own stand at a local farmer's markets (both good options), there is (in my opinion) a tastier option than both.
That option? Canning.
There are many types of canning out there, and we stock a bunch of different options for those beginning and advanced canners online here... but the canning I do is called water bath canning.
Why? Because it's the easiest kind of canning. If you don't know how to do this, it's simple, I even learned how. You can too, right here, but this post is about making the best spicy pickles on the planet. And below you will find a step by step recipe on how to do that... but truthfully, this post is a little more selfish.
As a spicy pickle connoisseur, I hope to collect the best of the "tried and true" internet recipes for creating mind blowing, taste bud quivering pickles. If you have some recipes of your own, and especially if they are the "family secret," type recipes like the one below.... please share them with us on Facebook (<--- click that link) so we can start compiling a bigger... better pickle recipe list.
Without further ado, here is a recipe that will take your cucumbers to their next phase in life... and actually preserve how long you can keep them. Enjoy!
For the North 40 Outfitters' Spicy Pickle Spice
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
- 1 ½ tablespoons coriander seeds
- 2 ½ tablespoons dill seed
- 1 tablespoon allspice berries
- 1 ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 10-12 bay leaves dry & crushed
Prepping the World's Best Spicy Garlic Pickle
- ½ bushel pickling cucumbers, scrubbed clean and kept whole or sliced
- 2 cups raw apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 4 cups water
- 5 tablespoons pickling salt
- North 40 Outfitter's Spicy Pickle Spice (2-3 tablespoons per jar)
- Dried dill weed from a 2 ounce package (2-3 fronds and stalks per jar)
- 8-16 small habanero peppers, split down the middle leaving seeds intact (2-3 per jar)
- 20-30 whole garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed (4-5 per jar)
- For the North 40 Pickling Spice it's pretty simple-- Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl and stir to mix.
- How do you prep your jars and lids for canning? Name of the game is clean, you're about to put these amazing pickles on the shelf for a year. You don't want random bacteria riding under the lids to fester and ruin the party, so make sure your materials are very, very clean (wash them in hot water and dry).
- In a large stock pot (or the water bath canner from above), bring the vinegars, water and salt to a simmer--this is the "brine" you'll read about later on.
- To each jar add: 2-3 tablespoons of pickling spice, 2-3 fronds and stalks of dried dill week, 2-3 habanero peppers depending on your preference and 4-5 whole garlic cloves to each jar. Pack the cucumbers sliced in half into the jars so they are tight, but don't crush them, and be sure to leave 1/2" of space above the top.
- Pour the brine into the jars leaving ½" and just cover the cucs.
- Wipe the rims of the jars so they are dry--make sure to not contaminate the lids (consider using utensils to place them).
- Place the lidded jars into the boiling water of the saucepan or water bath canner for 10 minutes, then remove the jars. You should hear the "pop" sound as the jars seal. Sealed jars should feel solid when tapped and be concave; if you find out that didn't seal completely... because it happens, especially starting out, put it in the fridge and eat them after a week.
- Store in a dry cool place. A good mark is 7 days until you eat them so the cucs can absorb the spice and flavor of the brine and other ingredients... but like wine, these pickles will get better as time passes. Store for up to 1 year.
Check out our selection of canning supplies online here.
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