There are recipes in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving for both dill and sweet reduced salt pickles. I used pickle crisp in my bread and butter and Kosher dill pickles this year and it worked good for them; but I wasn't worried about salt. The Ball Blue Book can be bought at Wal-Mart....but here are the recipes:

Reduced salt dill pickles:

4 lbs 3 to 5 inch cukes
3 cups sugar (yes sugar in dill pickles! Don't know why
2 tablespoons salt (I guess the reason for the sugar is because of reduced amount of salt??)
6 cups vinegar
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spice
green or dry dill (1 head per jar)
Wash cucumbers, drain. Cut cukes into 1/4 inch slices, discarding sterm and blossom ends. Combine sugar, salt and vinegar in a large saucepan. Tie spices in a spice bag; add spice bag to vinegar mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes; keep hot. Remove spice bag, Pack cukes into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace; put one head of dill in each jar. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process 15 mintues in boiling water bath.

Reduced Salt Sweet Pickles:
4 pounds 3 to 4 inch cukes
1 tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups sugar, divided
5 2/3 cup vinegar divided
1 tablespoon whole allspice
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 teaspoons mustart seed

Wash cukes; drain. Cut cukes into 1/4 inch slices, discarding stem and blossom ends. Combine salt, 1/2 cup sugar and 4 cups vinegar in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add cukes. Simmer cukes 5 minutes, or until color changes. Drain; keep cukes hot. Combine 3 cups sugar, 1 2/3 cups vinegar, whole allspice, celery seed, and mustard seed. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes; keep hot. Pack cucumbers into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Ladle hot liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Hope this helps.

This does help, thanks. Not that I shouldn't, but I'm not trying to reduce the the salt for health reasons. It's just that most of the home canned pickles I've sampled were overwhelmingly salty. I just didn't want that for my first patch if I could avoid it, Thanks again for the recipes.

I was just at Wal Mart getting the pickle crisp and I didn't find the book you were describing with the canning supplies.

Steve

Pickle Crisp and pickling lime are two different forms of calcium. The Pickle Crisp helps to 'buffer' the acidity of a vinegar based pickle, which can break down (soften) quicker in an acidic brine. Lime is another form that the vegetables get soaked in and this helps to block acids from entering the vegetables. Lime should only be used with cucumbers, and rinsed very thoroughly before jarring. To get a long term crisp pickle, the ONLY way would be to do it as a refrigerator type, as opposed to heat processing of regular canning. I too hate mushy pickles, and much prefer the salt brine type half sours compared to a vinegar based pickle. You say too salty, at that point, they probably have too much salt in the brine. You need to make a salt brine that has enought salt to make it almost sweet tasting, without the overly bitter salt taste. Its sometimes difficult to reach this goal, but once you have experimented with water and salt and find that point, you will be a big fan of salt brine pickles. Do I hear Claussen? Here, because fresh dill weed and seed is sometimes difficult to find, I will use a dill pickle mix from Mrs. Wages or Ball. I use the salt the contain, as well as the flavor extracts they contain which are a quite strong dill flavor. Needless to say, to keep these a long time, they get placed in a big jar in the fridge and can last up to a year with little change in texture. The only vnegar added, is a tablespoon a few days after they have cured. Even for that tiny amount or white vinegar, it can come through quite well.

ksrogers,

Do you have a formula you would be willing to share. I heat processed my first batch, but I have cukes coming out my ears and would be delighted to try something different with the next batch.

Also what's the turn around time on the refrigerator type (how long before they are ready to eat). I did see the pickle lime on the shelf when I picked up the pickle crisp, but when it said on the directions to rinse 3 times it concerned me. Does it just effect the taste not to get it all off or is it bad for you?

Steve

Pickling lime is something you don't want in a finished pickle. It tends to cling to the cukes skins, and even if rinsing several times, the cukes usually need a good hand rub as well to remove all the white coating. No, lime in concentration isn't good for people. Think of it as a mild lye, which it actually is. For refrigerator half sour types, my Polish grandmother would make a batch and have them in the kitchen to slightly ferment at room temprature. They would never seem to reach past 3-4 days as my grandfather would eat them all up by then. She would add more cukes to the prepared brine, only once. Then, after that, make a fresh brine. I make a batch which may be two half gallon Ball jars. They are at room temps for only about 2-3 days. They get a small dose of white vinegar and are placed in the fridge. Once chilled, you can start enjoying them right away. Slicing into them, you can actually see how deep the brine has gone into them. A week later, and they are usually fully pickled. Beyond that, they can be stored up to a year in the fidge. Like any cuke, they can get soft upon age, but these tend to stay a bit more crunchy compared to a processed pickle that uses heat. As mentioned in a private email reply, I much prefer to also use a pickle mix from Mrs. Wages or Ball, as these have a goodly amount of salt as well as a lot of essential spice oils, especially dill flavor. I do add fresh dill seed heads (yup, got some 10 inch diameter ones right now), and also dill weed, and don't forget the garlic, coursly cut.

If you don't get the pickling lime rinsed off it can not only cause stomach upsets, it can lower the acid content of your pickles and cause botulism.
The Pickle Crisp is much easier and the product now recommended instead of pickling lime.
My dill pickles don't seem salty to me. Mine are always cruchy, too, not soft. I always water bath can them.
Do you know with pickles the processing time starts when you put them in the canner, not when the water comes to a boil like other foods ? That is the only exception.
Anyway, these are my favorite dill pickles :
KOSHER DILL PICKLES (HEINZ RECIPE)

4 lbs pickling cukes
14 cloves garlic, peeled & split
1/4 cup salt
2 3/4 cups distilled or apple cider vinegar 5% acidity
2 3/4 cups water
12 to 14 sprigs fresh dill weed
28 peppercorns

Wash cucumbers; remove 1/16 inch from blossom end, cut in half lengthwise.

Combine garlic and next 3 ingredients; heat to boiling.

Remove garlic and place 4 halves into each clean jar, then pack cucumbers, adding 2 sprigs of dill and 4 peppercorns.

Pour hot vinegar solution over cucumbers to within 1/2 inch of top. Immediately adjust covers as jar manufacturer directs.

Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Makes 6-7 pints

Linda Lou -- that looks like a great recipe, thanks!

Do you use Pickle Crisp for that recipe? If so, can you say where it comes in and how?

Thanks very much!

ohthatdeb,
I use this recipe too only I don't process.
I make the brine without the garlic (just water, salt, vinegar) and keep it in a jar in my fridge.

When I have enough cukes for a pint or two, I clean, trim and pack into jars. Add the dill, garlic and peppercorns.

Heat enough of the brine to cover the cukes and pour over.
I put on a lid and ring and store them in my extra fridge in the garage.

I don't use Pickle Crisp and I don't process to seal. They stay nice and crisp. Once in awhile, I'll get one or two cukes in a jar that's a little softer, but I think those are ones that I "held over" a day or so in the fridge until I had enough to make a whole jar.

I really like the fact that I can do small amounts at a time. Those darn cukes just don't always ripen at the same time (like...........NEVER!!) HA HA.

Deanna

In all cases, Pickle Crisp is added when pouring the boiling brine liquid into the jars. I prefer to add it just before packing them with the cukes, as it tends to 'fizz' a little. In any case, you measure out the required amount per jar size and thats all you need to do. Pickle Crisp acts like a buffering agent when mixed with the acidic vinegars. This helps to slow down the softening that vinegar does to cukes and other veggies. I have even seen Pickle Crisp added to commercially canned whole tomatoes, so they hold their shape better.