This week was a busy preserving week despite the hot weather. When the veggies are ready to freeze or can, you have to do it if you want them at their best.
In less than a week I had picked over 13 pounds of cucumbers (above is 4 pounds being washed). The first batch of pickles was bread and butter pickles, from the Ball Blue Book.
The recipe calls for salting the slices of cucumbers and onions. I used Ailsa Craig onions that I picked earlier and was drying. Slicing this number of cukes takes time, but not so much when I bring out my mandolin. The slices get ice put on top and then they sit for and hour and a half. That is just the right timing to run the dishwasher to sterilize the jars and heat them up.
These are hot pack pickles so the pickles get cooked in their brine. I love the color of the brine. The turmeric really makes it a pretty yellow color.
All done. The recipe said it made 7 pints. I found that it made 6 full pints and I had a quarter pint left over. I didn't process it but just tossed it in the fridge for current use.
Yesterday I made quick pack dill pickles from the same book. This time the recipe made more than it said. So I had cucumbers and brine left over. My pot only holds 7 pints so I made the others into refrigerator pickles. Also the cukes were about 5" long and the jars only hold things 4" long. I typically cut off a little bit of the blossom end and leave the stem as it is supposed to make the pickles crisper that way. This time I cut a whole inch or more off the cukes. I sliced some of them up and added them to the bread and butter pickle brine to fill up that jar. It will be interesting to see how they turn out uncooked. The rest of the ends I ate for lunch. Oh how I love cucumber season.
To make the dill pickles I had to pick some dill heads. I don't have many this year. Usually I'm inundated with them. But I did get enough this time. I hope I'll get enough for more batches of refrigerator pickles. I also picked some marjoram. But this wasn't for the pickles. I dehydrated it for winter use.
And last but not least. I froze a batch of Kentucky Wonder beans. In the past I've tried freezing them on cookie sheets and putting them in a ziploc. This time I put them in small ziplocs and got all the air out. I'm hoping for better frozen beans this year. In past years I haven't been happy with the results.
Head on over to Robin's place at The Gardener of Eden and link up to let others see what you've been using or preserving from your garden and pantry
I really don't like to freeze vegetables much because to me they just don't last long in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteYour pickles look great!
My preferred method for green bean storage is just as you did it this year. We blanch, chill in ice water, then pack into quart bags and freeze. We also canned some last year (in addition to the dilly beans) but we don't like those nearly as much as the frozen beans.
ReplyDeleteI use that same recipe for my Bread & Butter pickles. It's wonderful! I'm short on dill this year too! I have to find some soon since the cucumbers are coming in!
ReplyDeleteYour photos look great, i'm hoping to grow some small gherkins/cucumbers here in not so sunny Wales UK next year. I do so like the look of those dill pickles.
ReplyDeleteI should know the answer to this question but I don't and at the risk of looking dumb I'm still wondering are the dill heads the flowers? I have been looking through pickle recipes and most list dill heads. I always assumed the recipes wanted to ferny leaves but I guess it's the flowers. Last year I used a recipe that used dill seed so I didn't even think about it.
ReplyDeleteYes dill heads are the flowers.
DeleteI have tons of dill out in the garden... except it's currently the habitat for a large crop of ladybug nymphs. Not sure how best to handle that when it comes time to pickle things. I may have to bite the bullet and buy some dill at the farmer's market.
ReplyDeletewow you are making pickles already!! My cucumbers only have 4 leaves at the moment..LOL
ReplyDeleteI have very little dill this year too. Ended up using dill weed instead of heads for my first batch of refrigerator dills because I just don't have any flower heads to use yet. You are getting a great harvest of cucumbers. Mine are starting up well but have yet to hit their peak. That should happen soon though judging by the amount of young fruits on the vines. My first priority is a batch of dill pickle relish, but after that I will do some regular pickles and might even do some bread and butter pickles even though I am the only one that will eat them in our house.
ReplyDeleteI just got done making 16 quarts of pickles... Beer Brine, Crosscut Honey & Sweet&Spicy...I'm trying new recipes. I didn't know not to cut the other end off the cucumber. I have zero dill as in the plants are 1 inch tall and quit growing (my first year and obviously I don't know how to grow dill). I am just using dill seed for the recipes that call for it. I still have over 30 qts. of pickles from last year and have done 33.5 already this year. I guess it's time to make cucumber bread. Any other suggestions? BTW your beans are amazing. I tried those for four years and gave up!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! My cucumbers are out yet (pickling, normal-ish ones, wiggly ones + enormous Sikkams). I can't wait!
ReplyDelete