I'm planning to jar some cucumbers for pickles today and had ordered a calcium crunch additive along with what I thought was a pickle seasoning blend. Turns out, it's just a dill pickle seasoning meant to sprinkle on other foods. I noticed it has a lot of the same ingredients I'd normally use for pickling, so I'm wondering if I can use this dill pickle seasoning instead of the actual spices like dill, coriander, garlic, and salt—do I really need to go get those ingredients, or will this work?
3 Answers
Honestly, I wouldn't use that dill pickle seasoning. It's likely loaded with salt and doesn’t really have the right spices for pickling. I'd recommend going out to get actual spices like dill, garlic flakes, coriander, and some sugar to make your pickles taste great!
Are you canning or fermenting? If you’re just fermenting, you don’t have to worry too much about the spices, especially if they’re organic. But for canning, I’d stick with fresh spices to ensure a good outcome.
You might want to reconsider using that dill pickle seasoning. It's pretty common to find pickling spices at the grocery store, and you can even make your own blend at home! Just make sure you're following a safe canning recipe. If you decide to use homemade spice, substitute equal amounts. A good mix usually includes dill seeds, mustard seeds, cayenne, and bay leaves. If you have those handy, that could work well. There's also a great recipe I use for dill pickles called 'Damn Good Dill Pickles' that involves a low temp canning method for crunchier results!
Totally agree! That low temp method is a game changer for crunch. The dill pickle seasoning just won't cut it for actual canning.