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.

Regular cukes will soften quickly, and because the skins are so thick they will be tougher to enjoy. When I buy cukes for salads, I use pickling types as their skins are very thin and crisp, and are not needed to be peeled off. Can't say the same about regular cukes, as they would be like biting into a hard tough skin, and softer inside. Pickling cukes are the #1 choice and MUST be used immediately after picking!! to get the best texture. Chilling in ice water can help to recrisp them, but its short term only, and will not fix/replace an older cukes' texture, or to get to be crisp again for a longer time. If sunken, rubbery, soft, old, they are not going to be as good for making crisp pickles. Long English cukes (sport), are usually sold in a shrink wrapped plastic. The reason is simple. If left out to air they dry out very fast and you end up with a poor texture again. They are bred to offer the softest skins that are found on all cukes. I wouldn't use any English cukes for pickles, but they are decent in fresh salads however. As to the crocks, you may want to see if cheap the lead tst kits used for tsting paint might work. A tiny chip of the glaze may be a way to see if the sample shows positive for lead. I think crocks made before 1960-1970 are are questionable, but correct me if I am wrong.

The USDA standards are established principally for the home food preserver. Many recipes are not USDA-approved but are still tested and safe. Lots of labs have that capacity. For example, Oregon State has a small entrepreneurship program which supports new purveyors of small-yield bottled food products and offers lab facilities for the testing to assure products are safe for sale. However, they would still have to be safe when processed and meet FDA plus any state regulations. Basically it comes down to the credentials of the person(s) who wrote the book and what they have done to assure food safety according to the criteria Dave indicated. One of the problems I have with many recipes/books is that the author(s) may have credentials but not necessarily credentials appropriate to home food processing. So Rick Fields, for example, does sell commercial pickles and relishes. However, he has available to him processing equipment not available to the average home preserver. Without his assurance of specific testing and safety in the home environment who knows how suitable the recipe is? I might add that in the home environment developers of canning recipes need to be sure they fall within a certain margin of error because there's more individual variation when you have many cooks using different product. In a commercial environment there's much more consistency. So Beverly Alfeld, for example, in her pickling book never goes above 4.3 pH, even though the limit for higher-acid BWB is 4.6 pH. She believes that leeway is important. Basically, I operate with a do not assume stance. My default position with any doubtful recipe is it isn't safe without very specific assurances, not merely the generic statement emailed by Williams-Sonoma. Carol

Linda , I've only ever canned them whole or at most cut in half (lengthwise) to fit the jar. Not sure if they would take on too much of the vinegar but it's not an overly vinegary recipe. All you can do is try! If they turn out carpy just run them through the food processor and voila..... dill relish! Ask me how I know ;)