Jan's Quick Baby Garlic Dills (Old Favorites)

Directions

1. Wash 1 qt, 2 pint or possibly 4 half-pint jars. Keep warm till needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.
2. Thoroughly wash cucumbers, gently scrub off blossom ends (if you do not remove the blossom end, the pickles may become soft during aging).
3. Pack the warm jars with the cucumbers. Add in the dill heads, warm pepper, garlic cloves, bay leaf, and pickling salt. Remember to reduce the salt accordingly if using pints or possibly half pints.
4. Pour 1 c. vinegar into each qt jar (1/2 c. for pints; 1/4 c. for half pints). Fill to 1/2- inch of the top with boiling water. Wipe jar rim with clean cloth, attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process by either low-temperature pasteurization or possibly boiling-water method.
5. Low-temperature pasteurization: Place jars in canner half-filled with hot water (120 to 140 degrees). Then, add in warm water to a level 1 inch above jars. Heat the water sufficient to maintain 180 to 185 degrees for 30 min (for altitudes of 1,000 to 3,000 feet, process 35 min; from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, 40 min; above 6,000 feet, 45 min). Check water temperature with a candy or possibly jelly thermometer; it should be at least 180 degrees during the entire processing time. Temperatures higher than 185 degrees may cause unnecessary softening of pickles.
6. Boiling-water canner: For pints, process in a boiling-water canner for 10 min; at 1,000 to 6,000 feet, 15 min; above 6,000 feet, 20 min. For qts, process for 15 min; at 1,000 to 6,000 feet, 20 min; above 6,000 feet, 25 min.
7. This recipe yields 1 qt.
8. Comments: These are one of my favorite pickles, especially now which I use even more garlic than I used to. Apparently they've become other people's favorites, because every season I get numerous requests for the recipe. They're simple to make, and deliciously foolproof. Because the basic directions yield 1 qt, this is an ideal recipe for home gardeners who would like to handle the batches of pickling cukes which never seem to ripen in very large numbers on any given day. The above ingredient amounts are for 1 qt of pickles. To increase, multiply ingredients by the number of qts desired, up to 7 qts.
9. Yield: 1 qt