Tuesday, August 7, 2012

pickles

Last year we grew our cucumbers in large pots and there were enough to make a few pints of dill pickles. Anne made them and they were amazing.
With those garlicy dills in mind, this year I planted heaps of cucumbers so I could can lots of pints. Those little hills of seed have become a mini jungle, thick with flowers and the constant drone of bees working away. It seems I just turned my back for a moment and, well... Let's just say it will be a good year for pickles.
Sunday I picked enough for 8 pints, the comfortable limit of my enamelware waterbath canner. Anne sent me a link to the recipe she used, from Ashley English.

The recipe calls for 6 pounds of cucumbers. I had slightly more than that and so ate the largest in a salad. Mild, sweet, summer in a mouthful.
Next step, wash well, remove a slice off each end, cover with water and salt (the brine solution) and refrigerate over night.
The dried dill seed shown here is from our garden. I also used fresh dill greens, and not shown here peppercorns I purchased at the Spice House in Evanston, Illinois. It is a Malabar pepper called Tellicherry.

The next morning after draining and rinsing them well, I packed each jar with spears cut from 2 cukes, and then added the pickling liquid before processing. There was a scant half cup of liquid leftover, so the recipe is pretty much spot on in the amounts listed.
This morning I see there are enough coming on in the garden to make another batch in a day or two. The hardest part of the process will be waiting the couple of weeks for them to cure before opening a jar.


5 comments:

  1. It will be wonderful eating the pickles come the dark winter months!

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  2. My mouth is watering way out here in Vermont.
    :-)

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  3. Yes, like Karen, I can just about taste them!
    That fresh cucumber must have been delicious also. My dad used to pack brown paper lunch bags with veggies from his garden and distribute them to friends and family. Everyone looked forward to them!

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  4. So glad to see your pickles!! So sad to see your post about sweet Amelia. :(

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  5. When you get more cukes, make some bread and butter pickles - they are so delicious and go with everything.

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