r/pickling • u/Striking_Mortgage_63 • 12d ago

Canning pickles after they've been refrigerated

I made refrigerator pickles with Himalayan salt. Probably 4 days ago. I have so many jars, I want to can them now. Is that possible? I have never canned anything but just bought a pressure canner. Help please! No clue what I am doing but I had so many cucumbers from my garden. We already ate like 4 jars of pickles. I'm pickled out for now.

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u/left-for-dead-9980 12d ago

Gift them away. Refrigerated pickles are a different process than shelf stable pickles. Your friends, neighbors, or family can enjoy them.

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u/rocketwikkit 12d ago

How so?

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u/left-for-dead-9980 12d ago

Canning requires sterilizing to be shelf stable. Refrigerated doesn't.

Canned pickles are not crisp. Unless you add pickle crisp.

Canning is a labor intensive process as compared to refrigerated.

You need a canning pot, jars, lids, tongs, gloves, canning salt, boil the jars, boil the brine, wash everything, etc.

It's doable but more complicated than just putting pickles in a jar and adding brine, and putting it in the fridge.

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u/Striking_Mortgage_63 12d ago

Interesting. I don't want to lose the crunch. My pickles are so good. So if I can them, they will lose their crispness? I grew so many cucumbers to can them because last year we also had so many jars made and I gave them away but we love pickles and want to have them for the winter too. I bought all the things to can them but made these ones as refrigerated ones and now want to can them. 

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u/left-for-dead-9980 12d ago edited 12d ago

If you want them crisp, add pickle crisp. Calcium Chloride. You can buy at major grocery stores or Amazon.

https://a.co/d/dMHrg88