Canning Safety Tips: How to Avoid Getting in a Pickle When Canning Your Dill Pickles!

The Safe Way to Can Dill Pickles
Canning is serious business. It's a great way to feed your family throughout the year, with the bounty of your own garden, or with crops from a local farmer. Pickled dill cucumbers are a favorite treat from the pantry shelf and our video shows you how to make them. Follow these safety tips so that your pickles will be perfect, and perfectly safe.
Start with the Cucumber
Cut the blossom end off the cuke or the pickles may become too soft and unsafe to eat.Do Not Use Table Salt
Kosher salt is not just some foodie affectation, it really is an important ingredient for food safety. Table salt has anti-caking ingredients, which will pull the salt out of the canning solution. Iodine in salt is another problem, it makes your brine cloudy. Use kosher, canning, or pickling salt instead.Fresh Vinegar
Can't remember when you bought that jug of vinegar? If the vinegar has gotten old and weak it will not have enough acid to keep bacteria at bay -- and your pickles will spoil in the jar.

Check the Jars
Examine the jar rims and lids for chips -- and test the jar seals to be sure they are whole and flexible.Beware of Brass, Iron, Copper and Zinc
Do not use pots or utensils made from these metals -- they can interact with the brining solution in a dangerous way.Follow the Recipe
This is not the time to express your culinary individuality. Even professional cooks follow canning recipes to the letter. The balance of vinegar and salt, and the length of time in the hot water bath, are crucial to achieving a well-preserved batch of pickles.