Kosher Dill Pickle Spears

Dill Pickles Spears are easily made right in your own kitchen! 

I love making these dill pickles spears every summer and enjoying them all year long.

Dill Pickles Spears

I’m excited to share a Kosher Dill Pickle Spears recipe with you today as a means to inspire you to make homemade! This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving. #BallProudlyHomemade

Being able to can your food for later use keeps it fresh for longer and allows you to feel more independent as you learn to make your own homemade food options to serve family and guests.

I love canning my own food because I know exactly what is going in it, no weird ingredient labels here!

The dill pickle spears featured here today are easily made at home and can fill your Ball® mason jars for long term, easy storage.

This leads me to the next question, “Why buy when you can CAN?”

Well, the answer is pretty simple:

Homemade Kosher Dill Pickle Spears always taste better.

You can feel proud knowing that your Ball® mason jars are filled with something “Proudly Homemade”.

Canning allows you to know what exactly is in your food, leaving out the guessing game or need to read labels as you determine what you’ll feed your family for dinner.

Need more canning recipes?! Check out my Strawberry Honey Butter and Almond Peach Jam (coming soon)!

What makes a kosher dill pickle kosher?

A kosher dill pickle spear is not necessarily kosher.

The reason these pickles use the term kosher is that they are made in a traditional manner as New York Jewish pickle makers would make their pickles.

This means that these canned kosher dill pickle spears are made using a generous amount of garlic and dill – YUM.

If you haven’t tried canning before but really want to make these Kosher Dill Pickle Spears then you’re in luck!

You can get your hands on the Ball® Preserving Starter Kit to assist in guiding you forward to make this process easier for you.

Ball® Preserving Starter Kit

This kit is perfect for the aspiring canner, and it includes all of the necessary tools for canning (excluding common kitchen equipment) and a recipe card with step-by-step, visual, and written instructions that make learning the canning process as easy as possible.

The kit comes with 4 Ball RM Half-Pint Jars with Bands and Lids, 1 Jar Lifter, 1 Canning Funnel, 1 Bubble Remover/Headspace Tool, 1 Flexible Canning Rack, 1 Pectin Pouch, and 1 Recipe Card.

How Do I Make Kosher Dill Pickle Spears?

This recipe will make about 4-pint jars of Kosher Dill Pickle Spears that you can put in your  Ball® mason jars.

Get your ingredients together; pickling cucumbers, water, white vinegar, sugar, Ball® Salt for Pickling and Preserving, garlic, bay leaves, dill sprigs, and yellow mustard seeds.

If you want to add the optional small hot peppers, and Ball® Pickle Crisp then make sure to get those ready to go!

Prepare boiling water canner.

Heat jars in simmering water until ready to use, do not boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.

Wash cucumbers and hot peppers in cold water.

Slice 1/16 of an inch off the blossom end of each cucumber; trim stem ends so cucumbers measure about 3 inches. Cut cucumbers into quarters lengthwise.

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small stainless saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower heat to simmer.

Place 1 garlic clove, 3 dill sprigs, ½ tsp mustard seed, 1 bay leaf, 1 red pepper, and Ball® Pickle Crisp (if desired) into a hot jar. Pack cucumber spears into the jar, leaving a ½ inch headspace. Trim any cucumbers that are too tall.

Ladle hot brine into a hot jar leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on the jar and apply band, adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.

Process jars 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat, remove the lid, let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when the center is pressed.

How long should canned pickles sit before eating?

While you can enjoy these kosher dill pickle spears within four days, the longer you allow these canned dill pickle spears to sit the better taste they’ll have.

A good rule of thumb is to allow your dill pickles to sit for about a week before you open them up and serve them with a meal.

Why are my pickles soft?

If your kosher dill pickle spears are soft then they are spoiled from the yeast fermentation.

Other causes of soft pickles could be due to using too weak of a salt brine or weak vinegar solution.

If you’ve stored your dill pickle spears at too warm of a temperature after canning them then they may be softer than you desire.

Don’t forget to get your Ball® Preserving Starter Kit and get experimenting with canning today!

This recipe is from Ball®.