Monday, February 22, 2010

Harvest Monday - 22 February 2010

This week was very special for the use of my harvest. As I've said before I pickled snap peas and was sorely disappointed. I'm a real pickle lover and they make great refrigerator pickles, but once they see heat they sort of dissolve. Ick. This week I opened the first of my cucumber pickles.

They really don't look like much, but oh my goodness they were so delicious. They weren't quite as crunchy as the refrigerator version, but not bad at all. They were better than any pickle I've bought before. YUM! Sadly last year was a bad cucumber year. I only made three pints. I've got just one pickle left in the first one. I can't eat one at a time. I eat four at a time. I really hope we get some sun this year so I can grow more cucumbers.

The recipe is the same as my refrigerator pickles, but you have to salt the pickles for hours first and can them. Is the growing season here yet?

If you would like to join Harvest Monday with a harvest or how you are using it, put your name and URL into Mr. Linky below.

19 comments:

  1. Are these the pickles I have heard so much about!?

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  2. It's almost like opening a jar of summer to pop open a jar of cucumbers or diced tomatoes that you canned yourself. I am delighted those turned out so well for you - but sad you only have 3 pints! Hopefully you will have a great cucumber growing season in 2010 and put up extra of these treats to enjoy.

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  3. I made way too many pickles last year, but we're slowly getting them devoured. I like dill, myself.

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  4. I'm not sure about pickled snap peas. But then again I made pickled eggs last night which I am sure most would not enjoy. I think I may have to do a jar of snaps this spring and see how they taste. Agreed, the growing season needs to get here already!

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  5. Glad your pickles turned out well. Do you like pickled beets? the are easy to make and can, and we love them.

    I didn't harvest exactly, but I sowed some new lettuce seeds, and made some delicious black bean soup with my home-canned vegetable soup starter.

    And BTW, Daphne, the auto-fill on Mr. Linky got me, and I have an old link in there. Sorry!

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  6. I can't wait to make pickles this year! I've gotten me really excited. I will have to give this recipe a try.

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  7. I hear ya! Bring on the sun this year. So far we've had an easy winter in Ottawa so we'll see if the mild weather continues. I had a poor 'vining' crop season too.

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  8. A week from tomorrow I'll be home, then I can begin using all the stuff I canned last summer! I'll not have missed a week without using something fresh from my garden or preserved, so I'd say I had a productive season. I'll still be using home canned tomato products and pickles when the next tomatoes and cucumbers begin to ripen ;-)

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  9. Never pickled snap peas before, gotta try it if I can get some this year. I made sun pickled cucumbers and hot peppers last year, still have some of those in the frig.

    Whew~~ got the harvest post in, not used to this small wireless notepad thingy, I lost my desktop internet connection this morning, it's probably the modem.

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  10. Don't you just love having your own produce "put by" to enjoy all year long? We had some homemade Meyer lemon marmalade (Thomas' recipe) yesterday on homemade whole wheat pecan raisin bread. Yum, yum.

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  11. I'll have to try them this year! My cukes are up downstairs.

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  12. I'm inspired to try pickling cucumbers - your recipe looks great! What is your favorite cucumber seed to grow for pickles?

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  13. Karen, yes, but the refrigerator version is the one that Joanne raves about. I got another friend of mine addicted to them a couple of years ago. Every couple of weeks I'd send another batch over to him and he'd give me back the empty jar. But that summer I had a lot of cukes to pickle.

    kitsapFG, it is sad. Next year had better be more prolific.

    EG, I wish I had too many. I have lots of people willing to take them off my hands, but I had to be very stingy this year.

    Dan, well they are good as refrigerator pickles. I'm a real pickle fan and the cukes just weren't growing this year, so needed to fill in the gap.

    henbogle, I so hate beets. If I liked them, you can bet I'd pickle them. I think I have the link fixed. I know autofill gets me sometimes too.

    Thomas, pickles are fun because they are so easy. And you can grow a lot of the spices yourself, like onions, garlic, dill and coriander.

    Ottawa Gardener, I find it funny that the farther north you go the easier of a winter it was. The south had a real hard winter.

    Annie's Granny, it will be fun to watch you plant up your big garden. Though I wish I had some of your canned tomatoes. Next year I'm canning some. Freezing is ok but not the same for some things.

    Mac, I made some refrigerator pickled peppers, but not canned ones. I want to can them this year. I find they are so much easier to use on things if they are pickled and in the fridge. I just toss them in things like sandwiches. I was a bit slow getting my post out this morning too. I usually get it done on Sunday, but didn't this week.

    Lou Murray, I do love it. I want more next year.

    Stefaneener, let me know what you think of them. BTW the canned ones I think need more spice (if you like spice). The canning process seems to make them more mild. Next year I'll double the hot peppers.

    A Kitchen Garden in Kihei Maui, I grow Diamant. It is a parthanocarpic cuke(sets without needing pollination) and none of the blooms are male so it is very prolific. Usually in our cool summers they do well especially early on when the bees are slow to pollinate, but last year was just too much for them. At least I got something from them. The other cuke I grew gave me a total of one.

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  14. I had a similar experience this week. I finally opened a jar of Cherry-Currant Jam from this summer. We'd given it away at Christmas in gifts but didn't taste it ourselves. It was nice to have the taste of summer.
    No harvests for me this week, besides some salad sprouts grown on the counter top.

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  15. I'm later than usual with my post today. I took a class this morning and when I got home it was too beautiful a day to spend indoors at the computer! And yesterday was gray, wet, and dreary. Anyway, I did a quickie post about my harvest.

    Do you pour a hot vinegar solution over your pickled snap peas? I use a vinegar solution that is heated with the sugar and seasonings and then cooled completely before you cover the peas with it. The pickles stay extra crunchy that way. I did some peppers the same way and they've also been very good.

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  16. I've got so many pickles that I've started giving jars away. We don't eat the suckers regularly enough. It's just my only way of preserving those cucumbers. I'm thinking of letting the boy put up that lemonade stand this summer....with some extra cucumbers.

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  17. Your pickles sound great, Daphne ! Will give them a try.

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  18. I'm sure I'd love pickled cucumbers, but unfortunately my better half doesn't eat that sort of thing. I'm the same with olives... I just have to eat my share and everyone elses!

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  19. Emily, that jam sounds divine.

    Michelle, When I do the refrigerator kind I don't even heat it up. I just make sure it is all dissolved first (which is probably easier hot).

    Ribbit, I wish I had that many. I've got a couple of people that would love me to have extras. I can just see the stand. Buy two cups of lemonade and get pickles for free.

    Miss M, Let me know how you like them.

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