You'll need:
Mini cucumbers, a whole bunch (I used the equivalent of almost four 4-litre baskets or so)
Equal parts white vinegar and water (I used about 16 cups of each)
1 T of kosher salt per cup of water (I used 16 T)
1/2 T of white sugar per cup of water (I used 8 T)
30 pint (500 ml) widemouth Mason jars
30 snap lids and rings
And per jar:
1 large fresh dill head
1 clove garlic
1 t mustard seed
Directions for cooking and canning:
Wash your Mason jars in hot soapy water. Rinse well.
Trim both ends of each cucumber and slice in half.
Fill your canner about half-way or so with water and heat on high.
Combine vinegar, water, salt, sugar in a large, heavy pot and bring it to a boil.
Working in batches of as many jars as your canner will fit, add dill, garlic, and mustard seed to each jar. My canner comfortably holds 7 widemouth pint jars at a time.
Pack the cucumbers tightly into the jars. This is where the widemouth style makes life easier.
Scoop a small amount of water into a small pot and put your snap lids in there to heat.
Once the pickle brine is boiling hot, ladle it into the pickle jars making sure the cucumbers are well-covered. You could also pour it into a heat-proof pitcher and use that to pour into the jars, but that much pouring of large quantities of boiling liquid sounds terrifying to me. Leave about a half-inch or so of head space.
"Bubble" each jar with a skewer or chopstick to release any trapped air. It's a little tricky when the cucumbers are tightly packed. Do the best you can. Wipe each rim with a clean damp paper towel. Place a heated snap lid down and screw the ring on finger tip tight.
Put the jars into your water bath canner. Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the top of your jars. Put the pot lid on and return to the boil for 15 minutes. Don't start your timer until the water is boiling.
Remove jars from the canner.
Repeat the process with the next batch. Easy peasy!
See how the lids on these don't yet have that slight circular dent in the middle? They haven't sealed yet. You may hear a pop! when a lid seals. You can tell they're sealed if there is no little give under your finger when you gently push them down.
Make sure all the lids have sealed. Stash any that don't seal properly in the fridge (ALL of mine did, woo hoo!, but sometimes they don't for whatever reason), and use them within a few weeks. The properly sealed ones should sit for at least 6 weeks before you dig in and can be stored for simply ages.
The entire sink (1/2 bushel) of mini cucumbers transforms like magic into 41 gorgeous jars of pickles! The ones are top are bread and butter.
