At the farmer's market this weekend we got a ton of pickling cucumbers for CHEAP (hello, end of season abundance!) and here's what we did with them:
Materials
(6) 1 PINT mason jars. We always use Ball jars and get them from the local hardware store.
1 large pot (like you use to make spaghetti)
Ingredients
4 pounds cucumbers, 2-4 inches long
4-5 small jalepeños, sliced (optional)
1/2 onion, sliced
3 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
6 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic
6 fresh dill heads
1 teaspoon DILL seed
First things first, clean your jars with soap and water, then rinse them off and put them in the oven (with lids, but make sure the lids aren't screwed on there, just set on top) at 200F for at least 20 minutes to sterilize them. Just leave them in there while you do the following:
Fill your large pot about halfway with water and start it boiling 'cos it'll take awhile.
Wash cucumbers and slice them into spears or discs.
Combine salt, mustard seeds, water, vinegar, onions, and peppercorns in a saucepan. Heat to boil.
Carefully remove your sterilized jars from the oven and in them put 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp celery seed, a piece of garlic clove, some jalepeños, and a piece of fresh dill.
Pack with cucumbers.
Using tongs, take the onions out of the boiling liquid and put it in your jars. Fill each jar with the hot liquid, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
Seal the jars. Submerge in the water in the large pot for 10 minutes, and make sure all jars are covered with boiling water.
Remove the jars at once when the 10 minutes are up. At this point, you should be able to store them in the pantry but just to make sure nobody dies of botulism, we keep ours in the fridge. Let them hang out for about 2-3 weeks and then enjoy!
8 comments:
Sweeet, or should I sour? ;-)
Christmas presents? I've never pickled. It's such a foreign process to me. That book sounds awesome, though.
That reminds me, here's a sweet pickle recipe we just did a few weeks ago and they came out amazing:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Bread-and-Butter-Pickles-71203
The book IS awesome - you would totally love it. I'm currently scouring it for Christmas present ideas.
mmm. my mom made some refrigerator pickles and they were yummy. will have to try your recipes...
Let me know when you try them!!!
That sounds SOOOO delicious! I watched Alton Brown can pickles once and I have always wanted to try since then!
dooooo it! There's been a resurgence in canning lately, and I'd like to think that people are returning to the "simpler" pleasures of life that include waiting several weeks to enjoy something homemade, the *pop* of the lid as you think back on that anticipation, knowing that you were creative and industrious and worked hard with your loved ones to make something are now going to enjoy all that with a big delicious turkey sandwich. Or GardenBurger ;) Or better yet, with other things that you pulled out of your garden.
Here's a good youtube resource for more information :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeSQmYK8uE4
Geez, woman, I'm going to have to start QA'ing all of your blog posts.
First, we used 6 pint jars, not quart. (A quart is how much beer you want to drink, a pint is how much beer the bar lets you drink.)
Second, we also put dill seed in the jars. Ha, dill seed.
thank you, quality control. now my readers can can with confidence. (haha, cancan :)
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