This is a frequent question here from those new to pickle making and the one most common recommendation is that the quality largely depends on the variety used, its age when harvested, and its freshness. The old adage of "picked and pickled within 24 hours" is true.

That can be difficult to do unless you have many plants growing so you have enough ready all at the same time. Only 1 or 2 plants always means you will be dealing with old softer cukes, often in too big a size, while waiting for enough to be ready.

Pickle Crisp can help but it cannot overcome the softness of 2 day old cukes or the poor quality issues when one uses slicers vs. pickling cukes.

The recipe used can have some negative effects but a young, small. firm, pickling cucumber can stand up to most any recipe.

So what variety did you use? Did you harvest them young and small? And how fresh were they?

Dave

Thanks Dave! I did not know about the 24 hour rule!! I did use a combination of picklers and the English cuke. I stored them in the frig until I had enough to make 7 quarts which is what my canner holds. They were under a week old but I for sure passed the 24 hour mark. I didn't know what recipe to use so I used the one I used to make dilly beans. 1:1 vinegar to water, garlic, fresh dill, jalapeno and cayenne. The flavor was good but the texture was not good. I used a pressure canner too and googled the right pressure and time but got different answers. I did 10 psi for 10 min.

I have lots jalapenos and would like to pickle some. Do you have any suggestions on recipe, pressure and time? I was going to do the same as above minus the cayenne.

Next year I will try my pickles again with more plants of the picklers and I'll follow the 24 hour rule.

I appreciate your time and advice!!

Kathy

That salting technique helps me get an acceptable pickle too. If you want crunchy you need to do the fermenting method and store in the fridge, but I find the canned ones when done right are good on sandwiches and in salads, etc. I have a couple of "Small Batch" canning books and often use their recipes or cut down a larger one. A lot of pickle recipes give you the proportions for the brine and you can just pack however many pickles you have into a jar with some salt, dill seeds, a clove of garlic and maybe a strip of hot pepper if you like or a sprig of cilantro, and then pour the hot brine over. Then you can BWB just a couple of pints. I bought a special pot for my small batch canning so I don't have to fire up "Big Bertha" for just a few jars.

The 24 hours isn't a rule. It's a guideline for best results. In other words the freshest are the best.

As other have said, stick with pickling cukes only and never pressure can them. Most importantly, stick with the tested and approved recipes for canning that are available from the USDA approved sources, not random guess recipes that are often unsafe. If you can't get a Ball canning book for some reason then use only the recipes available from NCHFP/USDA.

Dave
http://nchfp.uga.edu/

You can take this "approved" recipe and make up the brine, then pack however many pint jars you have for the fresh cucumbers you have. Then process them. Then store any leftover brine in the fridge and when you get more fresh cukes, make more pickles by bringing the brine to a boil again and then continuing with the recipe. The downside of that is you will be boiling water for maybe only a few pint jars. Which is why I got a special small canning pot for that kind of use. You can also use the brine to make refrigerator pickles with whatever end of the garden veggies you have, but those need to be eaten right away, not processed.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/quick_dill_pickles.html

Awesome!!

I appreciate your time in sending this!

THANK YOU!!