Pickles are really good to eat, and really easy to make. Especially if your spouse makes them! Canning is a fundamental aspect to living the renaissance life that should be a part of all of us. We are going to start with some "Bread and Butter" pickles, which are a sweet variety.
"We were able to score some more pickling cukes and made some "Spicy Garlic Dill" pickles. The recipe/process differences can be found after the bread and butter pickle section.
The recipe for Bread & Butter pickles can be found at the end, or can be downloaded by clicking on the file here:
"We were able to score some more pickling cukes and made some "Spicy Garlic Dill" pickles. The recipe/process differences can be found after the bread and butter pickle section.
The recipe for Bread & Butter pickles can be found at the end, or can be downloaded by clicking on the file here:
| bread___butter_pickles_from_garden_girls_group_0001.pdf |
The recipe for the Spicy Garlic Dill Pickles was deleted, as we did not care for it. Maybe it was the allspice berries. My mom's recipe can be found in the cookbook as well.
There are also other pickle recipes in the Cookbook, under appetizers.
"We" got "our" cucumbers from a local farmer's market. You could probably grow your own if you have the garden space. You would need to get a determinate variety, meaning they all ripen at the same time. We purchased about 6-7 pounds of the "pickling cucumbers". This step is the washing off step. For the purpose of this article "we" means "she".
The next step is to cut both ends of the cucumber off, and slice the rest into little cucumber wheels 1/8" to 1/4" inch in diameter. Do not peel. Put the cut cukes into a large bowl or suitable container like glass, stainless steel, or food-grade plastic, and not in a vessel made from aluminum or other reactive materials.
Next, slice up your onions, peel the garlic, then add these to the bowl of cucumber slices. Add the salt (pickling salt is best) and stir thoroughly. Regarding pickling salt, it does not contain additives such as anti-caking agents that can turn the brine cloudy or darker.
Cover with crushed ice and let stand for three hours. We just left ours on the counter.
After your three hour wait, drain thoroughly. We used a basket spoon thing that we got with our hand hammered wok and big colander. Unlike the recipe, we left in the garlic cloves. The initial test rendered a pretty garlicy sample from the refrigerator batch, so proceed cautiously here. Probably should leave the garlic out from this step. Would next time.
Combine sugar, spices, and vinegar. Heat just to boiling, then add the drained cucumbers and onion slices. Heat for five minutes.
Meanwhile, boil your lids, and get your canning water heating up. Fill up your canning pot half-way with water. In your canning pot is a wire rack, as you don't want the jars to touch the bottom of the canning pot.
Sterilize the jars by putting them briefly into the hot water in the canning pot. Use the jar lifter. With the aid of a ladle and a canning funnel, fill the jars with the hot cuke/onion/spice mix. Make sure that the brine covers the cukes, and leave 1/2 inch of headspace on the top. Wipe the lip of the jar to dry/clean with a clean cloth before putting on lids and rings. Don't over-tighten the lids at this point, as it will be adjusted later.
Use your jar lifters to place the jars into the boiling water. The wire basket has handles, so it may be possible to lower them all at the same time. Process them in the boiling water for 5 minutes. The five minute timer starts after the water starts boiling again.
After the five minutes are up, use your jar lifters or wire basket handles to remove the jars from the water, and place them on some dry towels to cool. To test the processing, the seals of the lids should be vacuumed tight, and not give when pressed on (indented inward). If the lid bounces up and down, then a proper seal was not achieved, and the jars should be put into the refrigerator and the pickles should be eaten within a few weeks. When the jars are cooled, you can tighten the rings a bit. Do not over-tighten.
That's it! Store at room temperature, and they should be ready in a few weeks. We even put some crushed red pepper flakes into a couple of the jars! This recipe made 8.5 pints. The half-pint went into the refrigerator unprocessed.
Garlic Dill Pickles
OK, I was on the phone with my brother and didn't do a very good job documenting the Spicy Garlic Dill pickling process. Lynn found this recipe online, so we are hoping it is a good one. It wasn't, therefore omitted, but left the process intact. It is very similar to making the bread and butter pickles with a few notable exceptions:
- Slice the cucumbers as you wish, or leave them whole, it is up to you.
- It might be an old wives' tale, but slice off and discard the blossom end of the pickle as it contains some sort of enzymes that lead to less crunchy pickles. Not sure if this is true hence the "tale". On that note, we also heard that putting a grape leaf on top helps with the crispness. We forgot to.
- No need to pre-brine and ice the pickles, just gently cram them into the sterilized jars.
- You just heat the water and vinegar up (to a simmer) without the spices. The spices, garlic, and chilis go directly into the jar.
- The canning (boiling time) is 10 minutes.
- About the same amount of cucumbers (6-7lbs) made 11 jars. Perhaps slicing the pickles into rounds makes the packing more efficient?
I did manage to get these shots in before it was too late. So there you have it. Pretty darn easy, especially if you are not the one making them!