When I was a child, I liked pickles. A
lot. Spears, chips, and even an occasional huge, whole pickle topped
my list of great veggies to eat.
Actually, I don't think I knew that
they belonged to the veggie portion of the food pyramid. If someone
told me that a pickle began its journey as a vegetable, I'm sure I
wouldn't have tried it.
As the last child of the
family, my parents forced few vegetables on me. My veggie repertoire
consisted of iceberg lettuce and sweet corn, which barely register as
vegetables. And, unknowingly, I ate cucumbers...but only pickled
cucumbers.
Let's be clear—my pickles were dill.
Only dill. No deviation. To me, there was nothing worse than biting
into a pickle...and finding it was sweet.
Blagh.
Oddly, as I grew older, I usually
ignored pickles. I'm not sure why. I like them. I do. I just didn't
think much about them.
And then we had Mikey.
Mikey is our pickle boy.
Whenever we eat out and pickles
accompany the meal, we all donate the spears to Mikey.
It's not unusual to find three pickles
lined up on his plate.
Unlike me, though, Mikey knows how
pickles originate. He's seen the vines in the garden and helped me
harvest the cucumbers. Plus, he actually likes cucumbers.--straight
up, fresh-from-the-vine cucumbers. It's one of the few foods he'll
eat.
This summer, when our cucumbers piled
high in the refrigerator, and we wondered what to do with them all, I
told him we'd try to make pickles.
But then life happened, and our pickle
project was forgotten.
Now, as our summer garden is winding
down and the cucumbers are slowing, I realized I never made pickles
for Mikey.
In fact, I've never attempted to make
pickles.
Tonight, armed with my handy Ball
Blue Book of Preserving, I magically turned late season cucumbers
into pickles.
Honestly, it was ridiculously easy. Why
have I feared canning all of these years?
For Day 4 of “31 Days of Garden
Delights,” I'm sharing a recipe adapted from Ball Blue Book of
Preserving:
Dill Pickles
(Yields about 7 pints or 3 quarts)
Ingredients:
8 pounds of cucumbers, sliced crosswise
into ¼ inch segments
¾ cup sugar
½ cup canning salt
1 quart vinegar
1 quart water
3 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
Green or dry dill (1 head per jar)
Wash cucumbers. In a large saucepan,
combine sugar, salt, vinegar, and water. Tie spices in a spice bag
and add to vinegar mixture. (Note: I didn't have a spice bag. I added
the spices directly into the liquid, then removed them with a sieve
when done heating.) Simmer for 15 minutes.
Pack cucumbers into hot jars, leaving
¼-inch headspace. Put one head of dill in each jar. Ladle hot
mixture over cucumbers, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air
bubbles. Adjust two-piece lid and screw onto jars. Process for 15
minutes in a boiling-water canner.
It's so simple. Remind me—why was I
so paranoid about canning?
The jars are cooling on the counter,
and my little pickle eater is asleep.
When we have our pickle tasting, I'll
let you know the reaction of our pickle connoisseur.
He is, after all, named Mikey.
And like the famous Mikey of years'
past, he might not eat it, because he (usually) hates everything.
But maybe he'll like it.
Hey, Mikey!
Hope you enjoy your Garden Delights!
XO ~
Julie
I used to make pickles. My dills didn't always come out crunchy...I like crunchy dill. I made Bread and Butter that were great, I don't like store bought B & B, but mine...whoa!
ReplyDeleteHave that Ball Canning book, great resource. Hope your pickles are great!!
Oh, I hope they are crunchy--we haven't broken into them yet, but now I'm tempted. There's not much worse than a soggy pickle. Peter loves B&B, but I'm a dill girl all the way.
DeleteMy mother alwasy made dill because she could make one jar or 100 if she had the cucks.. Try picking them about an inch or two long and can them whole.. great for a relish tray. Also add a clove of garlic to the jar with the cucumbers great with the dill.
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