A friend of mine recently bought a canner and canned dill pickles.  Apparently the recipe said to wait a certain period of time before opening.  That time passed and they are not quite what she expected.  I don't have the recipe she used.  Is this something that the longer they are stored, the more "dilled" they would taste?  I've never done pickles, just fruits and jams, so I've no answers for her.  All advice appreciated!  Thanks!

I don't think they get more "dilled" as they sit.  I canned some last year and the ones I opened as soon as I was allowed taste just the same as the jar I opened last week.  The texture of mine was off a bit, but that's because I didn't ice them down long enough.  It might be that she needed to add a little more dill than the recipe called for.  I think I'll add more next time, too.  All of this is just my experience from doing it last year.  Others that do it more often probably have more insight. 

I canned 12 quart jars of these things and I still have about 5 left!  Plenty to get me to the next canning season .  I haven't bought a pickle this whole year LOL.

 Crystola is right, the taste won't intensify with age. She can adjust the recipe to suit herself as long as the vinegar content and canning time is the same. 

 I have one receipe that says wait two weeks before opening but I couldnt tell any difference. Babs

She thought some tasted on the sweet side.  This was a mix of cauliflower, carrots, peppers, onion.  Can a sweetener be adjusted and if so, by how much?  I always used a minimum amount of sweet to make light syrups for fruits, but, as I've said, I've not done pickles yet, so silly me didn't realize there was a sweetener of any kind in a dill recipe.

She sent me samples of each today and I thought they were delicious! 

Thanks for the insight.  It's good to know to ice them for a long enough period of time as well.  These will be good tips for when I do this myself! 

Thank you!

Lynnea Berr:

Can a sweetener be adjusted and if so, by how much? 

I'm not sure about sugar, but if she used a recipe for an artificial sweetener, it shouldn't matter. It's been awhile since I made pickles so I'm having to think hard! I've only adjusted spices like garlic, peppercorn, dill, and so on. Those things change the flavor, but nothing else.  

She needs just a dill or kosher recipe, not a bread and butter or one with sugar- I pickled pickles- 13 quarts, about 10 pints, that are long gone, and pickled peppers, carrots, green beans, and marinated peppers.  My kids go through a quart of pickles with dinner.  I plan to double my pickles this year!  

I am running low on salsa, and really liked my spaghetti sauce.  I'll have to see how many tomatoes I can get my hands on.   

BTW, I cheated with my first batch and used a dill mix I bought at fleet farm- it was a little mustard-y, I liked the ones I makde later better, but it was nice to have a mix to help me!  It gets me going with something new.

She does have a dill recipe, but she had also done a mixture of cauliflower, peppers, carrots, onions, which she thought was sweeter than the dill pickles.  It does have dill in it, but has that yellow look and I'm thinking maybe Tumeric?  Just a guess.  :-)  It's definitely a different taste from the dill pickles.  She sent me a sample of each yesterday, and today sent me a jar of the mix.  Yummy!  Oh, and her recipes do call for a wait of (at least) two weeks.  She wanted me to thank everyone for their input.  It was her first time pickling anything and she was glad for all the helpful suggestions.

I have a good B&B pickle recipe from my sister, but need to find it.

Someone posted awhile ago about pickling carrots and only they among household members liking them -- who was that?