My mother – a long-ago Oregon State University home economics graduate – never processed her dill pickles. She said the salt would preserve them and processing was unneeded. I've been making and eating them for years, but now I'm afraid to give them away. What's the proper way to make dill pickles, and would processing make them less crisp?
There are two ways to make dill pickles safely and successfully. You can ferment (brine) them in a salt solution for several weeks or make the quick pickle version where bottled vinegar (5% acid) is a key ingredient.
The fermented dill pickles can be kept in the brine in the original container for four to six months at temperatures lower than 55 degrees. If you have an unheated basement or root cellar this is usually the top temperature. Nowadays, though, many folks need to keep them refrigerated when peak pickle quality is reached to slow fermentation and keep them crisp.
If you use the recipes to make fermented or quick pickles in our publication, “Pickling Vegetables,” they can be canned for storage in the pantry. In this publication, we also have some sweet pickle recipes that are partially fermented before they are canned.
Caution: The National Center for Home Food Preservation conducted research and notes there is one “refrigerator adaptation” dill pickle recipe that is at risk of listeria poisoning. This unsafe recipe is fermented in a salt brine at room temperature for a week and then refrigerated for consumption.
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