And here is the Fermented Dills I mentioned. Optional refrigerator storage or processing. Also really good! Deanna Fermented Dill Pickles  Refrigerated "Clausen" Type 1 Gallon Jar Pickling Cucumbers 12 Fresh Dill Flower heads, or 2 Tbsp Dried dill weed and 2 Tbsp. Dried dill seed 10 to 12 Cloves Garlic 6 to 8 Peppercorns 1/4 Cup Vinegar 1/2 Cup Salt 1 1/2 Quarts Water In 1 gallon jar add pickling cucumbers Rinse but do not wash the cucumbers. Add Dill flower heads or dried dill weed and seed, garlic, peppercorns, and vinegar. Dissolve salt in water and add to jar. Fill jar the remaining way with water. Add weight to keep cucumbers under brine. Fermentation sequence 1\. Clear brine  no cloudiness for 1 to 3 days 2\. Cloudy brine with gas formation, 2\-3 days 3\. Cloudy brine  no gas formation, 5 to 6 days Pickles ready to eat after 10\-11 days. Refrigerate pickles if you do not want to process them. To process the pickles: Fill clean, sterilized quart jars with pickles to within 1/2inch of the top. Wipe, seal, and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Remove and place on towel in a draft free area. Let jars stand for 12 hours. Label and date. Store in a dark, cool area.

Tammy, here are a couple: Hot Dill Potato Salad (From Shirley Miller) 1T butter 1T flour 1/2tsp salt 1/2tsp dry dill weed 1c milk 1/2c mayonnaise 2T minced onion 4c potatoes, cooked, peeled & diced Melt butter, add flour and seasonings. Whisk in milk slowly, until mixture thickens. Add mayonnaise and onion, mix well. Fold in potatoes, place in casserole. Sprinkle with paprika, bake 30 minutes at 350F These are the best dill pickles I have ever had, and no canner needed! The recipe is from a friend of mine on the Cooking Forum. Dill Pickles\-Chase (Sharon) INGREDIENTS: 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers 4 cups white vinegar 12 cups water 2/3 cup pickling salt 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved 8 sprigs fresh dill weed 8 heads fresh dill weed DIRECTIONS: 1.Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink ( I use the bathtub!) with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (1 quart ) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. 2.In a large pot over medium\-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil. 3.In each jar, place 2 half\-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue. Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place. Sharon's notes: Here is more information about Dills than you ever wanted! I have no idea what exactly makes these pickles so good so I am religious about following the steps to the tee! I make these a bushel at a time, each bushel yields about 50 jars. If using less than a bushel you can usually count on between 6\-8 dills(cukes) per 1 quart jar, depending on size. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Salmon Balls in Dill Sauce Oil 2 scallions, minced 1 15\-1/2 oz can salmon, drained and flaked 1 c dried bread crumbs 1 T lemon juice 1 egg 8 oz sour cream Pepper Dill weed 1 c chicken broth Parsley for garnish Heat 1T oil in skillet over medium heat, add scallions and cook until tender. Remove to large bowl, add salmon, bread crumbs, lemon juice, egg, 1/4c sour cream, 1/4tsp pepper and 1/4tsp dill weed. Mix well, shape into 2 inch balls. Heat 2T oil in same skillet, over medium heat. Brown salmon balls, transfer to plate. Pour oil from skillet, add chicken broth, bring to boil, lower heat, stir in remaining sour cream, remaining dill weed and pepper. Return salmon balls to sauce and heat through. Serve hot. Makes 5 main dish servings or make balls one inch diameter for a wonderful appetizer! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are from the same person as the pickles. They are a little "putzy" bit sooooo good! Spanikopita 16 oz Phyllo Dough,thawed in the fridge for 24 hours 10 oz Frozen Spinach,thawed and drained of all liquid 3/4 lb Feta Cheese, 375 Grams 1/2 lb Cottage Cheese,pressed and drained about 1 cup 1/4 lb Cream Cheese,softened 3 Eggs 1/4 cup Fresh Dill,Chopped Fine Salt Pepper Nutmeg 3/4 cup Butter,melted In large bowl combine all ingredients except phylo and butter. Working with one sheet of phylo at a time, brush with melted butter and cut in 5 strips lengthwise. Place 1 spoonful of mixture at the bottom of each strip about 1 inch from the bottom, fold the bottom piece up over the filling and then fold up in a triangle shape. Fold like you fold a flag, to the left, up , to the right ,up etc. Brush tops with more melted butter. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve warm NOTE: To freeze, place the uncooked spanikopita on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. Once frozen place in bags or containers. When ready to serve place frozen spanikopita on a cookie sheet and bake. These are very easy to make, don't be fussed about the phylo just keep a tea towel over it while you are working. I promise you these will be a huge hit, with a bit of "Wow" factor. (Sharon Howard) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Greek Country Salad 2 c torn romaine leaves 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced 1 medium tomato cut in wedges 1/2 medium cucumber, thinly sliced 1/2 medium green pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 12 pitted black olives, sliced 1 T extra virgin olive oil 2 tsp capers, drained & rinsed 1 tsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp fresh lemon juice 1/2 tsp chopped fresh dill 2 oz feta cheese, crumbled In medium salad bowl, combine lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, green pepper and olives. Refrigerate until well chilled. In small bowl, combine oil, capers, vinegar, lemon juice and dill, mixing well. Toss with salad ingredients and top with feta cheese. Serve immediately. That ought to use up some of that dill! LOL Linda

Alum makes you "pucker", but it doesn't really help keep them crisp, IMO. Neither does grape leaves or pickling lime, or at least they don't help mine! There's a product called "Pickle Crisp", I think it was sodium chloride, but Ball stopped making it because it wasn't popular enough. Worked pretty well, though, and I'm glad I have a couple of boxes left from last year! I think it can be purchased in bulk still from other companies too. The best way to get crisp pickles is to use cucumbers the same day they are picked, as fresh as you can get them, pack them in ice to chill well and always cut off the blossom end. There's an enzyme in the blossom end that makes pickles soft, apparently. Anyway, for dills I use Chase's recipe. It doesn't meet USDA safety standards because it isn't 50/50 water and vinegar in the brine and it isn't hot water bath processed. I make them anyway for Dad because he loves them but I have to tell you that they break the U.S. "safety rules". Canada has different rules, so they use Chase's method, which sounds the same as Jimtex's way. A lot of older people still use that "open kettle" method but the USDA says it's not safe. Anyway, you choose the method you like, here's the recipe and I just canned 7 quarts of them. I did up the vinegar to 6 cups vinegar/10 cups water, but that's still not 50/50, LOL. Half and half each is just way too sour for me. Dill Pickles "This recipe for Kosher style dills was given to me 25 years ago by a farmers wife who grew cucumbers and it has never let me down. The two things I have found critical to crisp dill pickles are soaking the cukes in ice water for at least 2 hours and ensuring the brine is at a full boil when poured over the dills." Original recipe yield 8 - 1 quart jars 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers 4 cups white vinegar 12 cups water 2/3 cup pickling salt 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved 8 sprigs fresh dill weed 8 heads fresh dill weed DIRECTIONS Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink ( I use the bathtub!) with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (1 quart ) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil. In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue. (If you choose to waterbath them, process quarts for 15 minutes) Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place. And here's a refrigerator pickle I got from San: THE FRUGS PICKLES In a saucepan, heat on low until thoroughly dissolved: 1 C water 1 tsp salt 1/2 C white vinegar 1/2 C sugar then stir in: 1/2 tsp celery seed 1/2 tsp mustard seed pour the above mix over: 2 cukes, thinly sliced (we use english cukes which are very thin-skinned and don't bother to peel them) 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced cover and refrigerate several hoursÂthese will keep a couple of weeks with no loss of crispness My favorite sweet pickle, but be aware that after I put the brine on them Ashley starts snitching them right out of the bucket on the counter so my yield is never what the recipe says, LOL. Linda Lou's Sweet Pickle Chunks Sweet pickle chunks: Every day for four days, pour boiling water over 24 pickling cukes. Drain off old water and use fresh water every day. On 5th day, drain, cut cukes into chunks and add this syrup. 8 cups sugar 4 cups cider vinegar 5% acidity 3 1/2 tsp. pickling and canning salt 2 Tbsp. pickling spices, tied in a bag. Bring syrup to a boil and pour over pickle chunks. Every day for 3 days, drain syrup, reheat and pour back over pickles. On 4th day, pack pickles into jars, seal with lid. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. For something different that the kids love (for some odd reason, LOL), here are some Koolaid pickles. Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em. I think they taste weird, but Ashley will eat half a jar, go figure. I don't know where it came from originally, this recipe was in my local newspaper, but I've seen it on the Food Network on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives". He liked them too. KOOLAID PICKLES 1 (46 ounce) jar whole dill pickles 1 cup sugar 2 cups water 2 (1 ounce) packets kool-aid unsweetened cherry drink mix Directions Drain and discard the juice from the pickle jar. Remove the pickles from the jar and cut each one in half lengthwise. Return the pickles to the jar and set aside. In a large measuring cup, combine the sugar, water and Kool-Aid. Mix until the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour enough of the liquid into the pickle jar to cover the pickles. Discard any excess. Cover the jar and refrigerate at least 24 hours. This recipe is from my old Farm Journal Cookbook. It didn't call for a hot water bath, but I do it anyway and it doesn't seem to matter. I like the onions in there better than the cucumbers and I leave the peppers out altogether because no one likes them: Bread and Butter Pickles (Farm Journal) Quick Bread and Butter Pickles 4 quarts sliced medium-sized cucumbers 6 cups sliced white onions 2 green peppers, sliced to make 1 2/3 cups 3 cloves garlic 1/3 cup granulated pickling salt 5 cups sugar 3 cups apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 tsp. turmeric 1 1/2 tsp. celery seed 2 T. mustard seed Combine cucumbers, onion, green peppers and whole garlic cloves. Add salt; cover with cracked ice and mix thoroughly. Let stand 3 hours, then drain well. Remove garlic. Combine remaining ingredients; bring to a full boil for 5 minutes. Pack vegetables into jars and cover with hot syrup. Seal. (I put them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes) Makes 8 pints. So, whatcha waiting for? Make some pickles, LOL. Annie

nosnowtn, Chase's pickles do not meet the USDA canning guidelines as they do not have a sufficiently high water to vinegar ratio and they are not water bath processed. However, that method does Canadian guidelines, which are somewhat less stringent than ours. However, the hot brine in hot jars should have sealed, normally you pack in the pickles in hot jars, add hot liquid brine and then place hot lids on the jars and they'll seal. Canadian rules also allow the sealing of jams and jellies in the same fashion, although the government here recommends against it. So, the short answer is yes, the jars should have sealed. Most of us know that the recipe doesn't meet the U.S. government standards and have chosen the level of risk we wish to take. The guidelines are just that and each canner assesses the possible danger and takes only the level of risk they are comfortable taking. The risk with pickles is small, although they are a food that is not reheated, they are eaten cold, so boiling them for safety isn't an option and that does increase the risk somewhat. At any rate, I'm comfortable making them and eating them, and letting my family eat them. You have to decide for yourself. Mine have always sealed that way, BTW, and my Dad open kettle canned tomatoes his whole life and they sealed most of the time too. I figure I get about a 10 to 20% fail rate on the seal using that method, which is why I only use it for those pickles, everything else gets a water bath, even jams and jellies. Annie