Hi Nancy! I’m so happy to hear that your jars sealed beautifully and that you’re feeling confident with your preserving—what a great accomplishment! 😊 Thank you for sharing your experience with halving the recipe. It’s not unusual for yields to vary, especially with homemade pickles. Factors like the size, shape, and how tightly the cucumbers are packed can all affect the final number of jars. Medium cucumbers might take up a little more space than expected. I’m glad you had extra jars and brine on hand—always a good canning practice! It’s definitely helpful to make a bit more brine, just in case. Thanks for the heads-up to others who may be following the recipe, and I’m so happy your pickles turned out well!

I halved this recipe since I was running out of cucumbers (once again, medium cucumbers from my neighbour’s garden) so I had 4 lbs. I expected this to produce 3 1/2 pint-sized jars but I ended up with 6 pint jars. Luckily I had a few extra jars heating in the canner, and I had made double the brine since it didn’t seem like enough, so again, just a heads up to others, this recipe made more than expected, unless it’s just me lol.

Amy, Yes, you may safely reduce the salt in tested quick-process pickle recipes.

Could this same recipe be made using less salt? This recipe is 8 tablespoons of salt to 8 pounds of cucumbers. I have a recipe that calls for 2 tablespoons for 3lbs. Could I just reduce the salt in your recipe?

Jeanine, This kosher-style dill pickle recipe is developed to have a well-rounded briny flavor, so the pickles are naturally quite salty. If you find the pickles too salty, it might be worth trying a different recipe. For a less salty version, check out the Reduced Sodium Sliced Dill Pickles recipe on the NCHFP website.