Freezer Pickles

Ingredients

  • 8 cups pickling cucumbers, thinly sliced (2.5 lbs)
  • 1 cup sweet red pepper, seeded, cored and chopped

Pickling Solution

  • 3 tbspcanning and pickling salt
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1/3 cup fresh dill weed, minced 
  • 1 tsp dill seed
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 ½ cups cider vinegar (5% acetic acid)

Directions

  1. Gently wash cucumbers. Trim 1/16 inch from the blossom end and discard. Thinly slice cucumbers and measure out 8 cups.  In a large bowl, toss the cucumbers with the salt. Let the cucumbers stand 2 hours, and then drain.
  2. In another bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture over the drained cucumbers, and stir well.  Refrigerate the mixture for 8-10 hours.
  3. Pack the cucumber slices and pickling solution in freezer bags or rigid containers, leaving 1 inch headspace.  Label and date packages, and freeze at 0 F or colder for up to 6 months.
  4. Thaw pickles for about 8 hours in the refrigerator, and serve chilled.  Thawed pickles must be kept refrigerated; use within 2 weeks.

Nutrition

Yields: 4 pints. Per ¼ cup serving: 31 calories