The pickling salt is 100% pure salt, with no minerals or any additives to prevent caking. Salt has a tendency to absorb moisture. The only way to know is to see what it contains. If its salt only, and not sea salt, you should also look for the words 'Silicone Dioxide', which is not good in any pickles. Kosher salt is a larger grain and is almost double the volume compared to regular salt. Another source for pure 100% salt is from sausage making supply companies. I bought a 10 pound tub and it should last me quite a while. The other option is to see who can ship outside the US. A cooking show on PBS just recently had an italian cooking program that featured several vegetable garden based pickle recipes. They all used white distilled vinegar with a 5% strength. Large grain salt can measure about half the amount of regular pickling salt. For instance, a half cup of pickling salt, may require up to a cup of Kosher or other large grain salt. Be careful if there are any additives, as they will affect the flavor of any pickles. Be sure to TASTE the pickle brine prior to adding any vegetables. I would expect gill is grown almost anywhere. When you plant dill seeds, let a few go through the full cycle, and produce more seeds, so you can have more dill next year. Mine now comes up in places it grew last summer. Pickling salt is also known as canning salt. It should NOT contain Iodine either!

Peperoncini are very hard to can. They go to mush as soon as they are heated even a little bit. Fermenting or just pickling and placing in the fridge would keep them crisper. I have been using my vacuum process and its been great too. Currently, I have a few more sweet cherry peppers to can. These get full strength vinegar, salt, and a dash of Splenda. I cut off the stems down to crown, then pierce each pepper though with a skewer. Then they get placed in a vacuum tight container and the brine is forced inside each, as the vacuum pulls out all the air. I do this with the Pepproncini too. Once I feel that the peppers have sucked up the brine, I fill pint jars with them and fresh brine. The brine is only filled 3/4 from the top, a vacuum is pulled on each jar again and I watch for any drop in liquid. Usually there is no change, which indicates that every pepper has absorbed its fill. I fill the jars 1/2 inch from the top, and watch again. Release the vacuum, place a lid on, then pump it down again for the final seal. I use the Food Saver jar adapater, but a much more powerful vacuum pump. Every jar has a really good seal, and none have failed in 3 years now. I have three half gallon jars of my half sour pickles in my fridge.

This is an old thread but if anyone wants the flavor of real salt cured cucumber pickles, I found a listing by googling the subject. It was a patent application if I recall. What the auther tried based on a chemists perspective was that grain alcohol can be substitured molecule for molecule for salt in the curing process. He gave the formulas to use and I followed them and made a plastic crock full of wonderful dill pickles in my spare bathtub. It takes almost a month to cure fully and the pickles are nice and sour just like real deli dill and like the salt pickles my mother and father used to make in the 1930s and 49s. Sorry but I only made them once but you can find the reference by googling like I did. And no you can't drink the brine, the alcohol is all used up in the process and the brine tastes sour and full of dill.

posie4U-- here it is You will need some kind of crock (glass or glazed pottery)-- I bought a couple at Walmart year before last - they are clear glass (2 gallons each) with glass lids, sort of like the glass jars they used to have candy in at old timey general stores. Don't know if they still have them. Anyway this is the recipe. Lay crock on its side and pack cucumbers in as tightly as possible. (This recipe is not exact. I have tweaked it some with regard to quantities though, and it still works out fine.) These are the quantities I used for one - 2 gallon crock. Day 1 - Dissolve 2 cups of salt in 1 gallon of boiling water. Pour over cucumbers and let stand 24 hours. Day 2 - Dissolve 1 to 1 1/2 jars of powdered alum (the recipe is old and says a box of alum-- don't think it comes that way anymore - 1 used 1 and 1/2 containers - which were 1.9 ozs. each for the 2 gallon crock of pickles. Day 3 - Drain cukes. Pour fresh boiling water over cucumbers and let stand 24 hours. Day 4 - Drain. Boil together 1 gal. vinegar and about 1 oz. of pickling spice ( put spices in cheescloth or old clean handkerchief and tie up)-- put in pot with vinegar. After you pour the vinegar over the pickles, put the bag of spices in the top of the crock with the cucumbers. let stand for 9 DAYS. After 9 days - Drain cucumbers and slice crosswise. Put a layer of cucumbers and a layer of sugar in large plastic bowls or some type of non-reactive container. Use plenty of sugar so you have enough syrup to cover the cucumbers when you pack them in jars. (I think about 5-7+ lbs. for the 2 gallon crock.) Let the sugar melt and then fill clean jars. (qts. or pints) No need to process. These keep very well for a couple of years in a dark dry place. The amount of pickles you have depends on the size and quantity of cucumbers. But like I said I'm doing a 2 gallon crock and I expect to have probably about 5-7 qts. of pickles. For potato salad, chicken salad, etc. these are the absolute best. Make sure to chill before using. Please excuse the approximate quantities. This is a very old recipe, but I've never had a bad pickle. I will be glad to answer any questions.