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Hi, New member here and my first post.

I am in a bit of a panic over my first attempt to pickle cukes. Wondering if someone could help. If there is a separate forum dedicated to canning an pickling, please feel free to move this post over to it.

Last Sunday, I followed the instructions for Joan Nathan's Kosher Dill Pickles that I found in a search. http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucumbers/recipes/pickles/kosher_pickles.html. I put was able to fill 8 sterilized quart jars. I put the jars in the basement. The instructions say to keep partially covered for 2-3 days. I assumed by that it means put the seals on and don't tighten down the screw on lids all the way. The solution started getting cloudy yesterday. The recipe says that, 'When the jar starts to bubble, let it bubble a day or two, removing the scum daily. Then seal and store in a dry, cool place for about 3 weeks before using. Refrigerate after opening. The pickles should last several weeks after opening in the refrigerator, or indefinitely unopened.'

Well, I haven't noticed any bubbling, but I was disturbed when I took the seal off one of the jars and saw what appeared to be mold growing on top of two of the cukes. Is this what she describes as scum? I took the little scraper that came with my canning kit and began to remove the scum/mold. The pickles with the 'mold' are really soft on top. The mold/scum was nearly white in color. I don't know if this is normal. I doubt these are pickling pickles because this is my first garden and all I was modest goal was simply to grow cucumbers! I can attest to the fact that they were picked a day before we canned.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

Oh my....your bottles have spoiled. ~THROW THEM OUT~I'd never trust a recipe such as that. Pickles need to be cooked and processed in a boiling water bath.

We have lots of recipes in this forum, you can do a search and bring them up to read.

I haven't looked at the other forums, but you can try this (which I'll spell out step by step, sorry if it sounds like baby talk).

1) rinse the cukes to remove the spines and set aside.

2) collect the number of mason jars you think you will need. You can "dry run" this with the cukes and a jar or two to get some idea, keeping in mind that you want the jars packed tightly.

3) fill the jars with water.

4) find a pot that will hold the jars (or at least some of them, you can do more than one batch) AND find a rack that fits at the bottom of the pot. The pot needs a lid but it doesn't have to fit super tight. You are going to be constructing a boiling water bath and it's important that the jars are NOT on the actual bottom of the pot. We have a rack from an old pressure cooker but you could use something like a pasta cooker that has a separate collandar, the jars would sit in the collendar above the bottom.

5) place the water filled jars on the rack in the pot and fill the pot with water to about 2" above the top of the jars. The water in the jars is just to weigh down the jars so they won't float! Remove the jars and dump out the water in them. You've just discovered how much water you need in your water bath.

6) Find a "brine" recipe. Most are going to be vinegar, spices, maybe dill, etc. and ONLY use a recipe that calls for boiling the brine.

7) Get the water bath started to boil, make & boil the brine, and bring a kettle of water to a boil (you'll use this to sterilize the jars). This part gets tricky timing-wise. Things need to come together, but sterilized jars, lids, and rings can sit for a bit (jars upside down so no "outside" air gets in them) as long as they stay pretty hot.

8) To sterilize the jars & lids, simply put them in the sink and pour boiling water in and over them (maybe about 2" of water would do it for each jar). Turn them upside down and put on a clean towel. Fill up or refill the kettle and bring it back to a boil, you made need more boiling water in a few minutes (see #13).

9) Once the water bath and brine are boiling (brine according to the recipe, usually about 10-20 mins. or so) fill the jars with the cukes. Pack them tightly. One way to do this is (using a pot holder-- the jars should be too hot to hold otherwise) hold the jar at an angle so that the first cukes you put in fall against the side of the jar. Then just keep packing. Your recipe may also call for you to include dill or a spice too when packing.

10) Fill the jar with the brine, leaving about 1" head space-- room at the top. We also use a sterilized table knife to wiggle the cukes around and get out air bubbles. You may have to top off with a bit more brine after some air bubbles have escaped.

11) Put the lids and bands on tightly. TIGHTLY!

12) Repeat for as many jars as you are going to do in this batch.

13) Put the jars on the rack in the water bath. NOTE that you'll loose some water volume as the bath has been boiling away, but you can fill it up a bit with the water boiling in the kettle. What's important is that the jars are submerged completely in boiling water. We use large b-b-q tongs to place the jars in the water but there are canning tongs specifically shaped for mason jars.

14) Put the lid on the pot and bring back to a boil. Start timing when the water returns to a boil (o.k. to take the lid off to peek). Different foods require different amounts of this "processing" time-- pickles are 10 minutes, so boil the jars for 10 minutes.

15) Carefully remove the jars and set on a baking rack-- NOT directly on the counter. You want air to circulate around all surfaces of the jar.

16) You should hear a "pop" after a few minutes (sometimes as much as 30 or more depending on how hot it is in the kitchen). This means the jar is sealed. (The physics: as the contents of the jar cools, the volume of the liquid decreases, and so does the pressure inside the jar. WHen the pressure inside is less than outside (the air) the lid will be pushed inward by the greater pressure outside, thus sealing the jar.) If you don't hear the pop, after the jars are cooled completely (like over night) push on the center of the jar. If you can still push it in, the jar is NOT sealed and you cannot store the pickles. But you CAN stick the jar in the fridge and eat them, you just can't store them long-term.

Hope this helps. This coming Sunday is Pickling Day #2 for us. We don't have A/C and last pickling day it was hotter inside the kitchen than it was outside-- and it was 95 degrees outside. On the other hand-- we're really going to enjoy those pickles come snow time!