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You need to know how to make mustard pickles because this is one of the BEST condiments we’ve ever had. This recipe came from my husband’s Great Grandma and I’ve updated it to make sure it follows safe canning but still has the amazing flavor from her original recipe.
When my father-in-law found out I was a canner, he started talking about how much he loved Great-Grandma’s mustard pickles and hadn’t had them in years (sadly, she passed from the family long before I met and married my husband). I’d never heard of mustard pickle relish before and thought the recipe was long lost as no one had made it in years. It was one of those family recipes that were the stuff of legends it seemed.
Until my husband’s grandma was going through her recipe books and found a copy of it from decades past. She no longer canned but passed it along to me. Honestly, as I scanned the ingredients for the mustard pickles I wasn’t sure what to expect by the finished product, but man, one spoonful and I was hooked.
It quickly became a yearly staple and makes the best (and easiest) potato salad. All you have to do is add it to eggs, mayo and your potatoes and you’re done. No chopping up pickles or onions, score! Wondering what to eat with mustard pickles beside potato salad, a few of our favorites are on hamburgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches… or by the spoonful.
A few important notes, I used the Ball mustard pickle recipe to calculate the vinegar and amount of ClearJel to update this recipe for canning safety. The original recipe called flour but flour, cornstarch, tapioca, or any other thickener aside from ClearJel are no longer approved or considered safe canning ingredients. Because I don’t have a way of testing safe viscosity when canning a recipe at home, I always use a tested source for acidity and viscosity (aka thickener) ratios.
6 cups washed and diced pickling cucumbers
2 cups diced onion
1 cup canning/pickling salt
8 cups water (or enough to cover the cucumbers and onions for the salt water soak)
4 cups vinegar (you can use apple cider or white vinegar but make sure it’s 5% acidity)
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons ClearJel® (optional, but produces a thicker relish)
6 Tablespoons dry mustard
2 Tablespoons dry turmeric
2 teaspoons celery salt (you can use regular salt, but the celery salt adds to the flavor)
½ cup water
Mustard Pickle Recipe Notes/Adaptations:
You may safely sub in zucchini in place of cucumbers in this recipe per Ball Book of Complete Home Canning.
You can use either apple cider or white vinegar, just make sure it says 5% acidity (no homemade apple cider vinegar for canning recipes)
If you don’t have ClearJel (you can click here to order it) you can omit it (but don’t add any other type of thickener), the relish will be a little bit runnier, but the flavor will still be fantastic.
This old-fashioned mustard pickle recipe is straight from Great-Grandma’s kitchen and is delicious on sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and in salads. A must make when the summer bounty is on!
6 cups washed and diced pickling cucumbers
2 cups diced onion
1 cup canning/pickling salt
8 cups water (or enough to cover the cucumbers and onions for the salt water soak)
4 cups vinegar (you can use apple cider or white vinegar but make sure it’s 5% acidity)
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons ClearJel® (optional, but produces a thicker relish)
6 Tablespoons dry mustard
2 Tablespoons dry turmeric
2 teaspoons celery salt (you can use regular salt, but the celery salt adds to the flavor)
½ cup water
You may safely sub in zucchini in place of cucumbers in this recipe per Ball Book of Complete Home Canning.
You can use either apple cider or white vinegar, just make sure it says 5% acidity (no homemade apple cider vinegar for canning recipes)
Keywords: mustard pickles, how to make mustard pickles, grandma's mustard pickles
Now you know how to make mustard pickles with Great-Grandma’s recipe. Have you ever made these before or had them?
Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.
