Pickling Cucumbers
Gretch and I made our first attempt at pickling the cucumbers from our garden yesterday. I have no idea what variety of cucumber we planted, but I am certain that they were not the variety specifically bred for pickling (conveniently known as pickling cucumbers). We wanted to try pickling them because our garden produced vast quantities of cucumbers and we were running out of uses for them.
As an aside, our bell peppers have been a catastrophic failure. They don't get very big before they rot and fall of the plant. We probably over-watered them. I also have a hunch that garden bell peppers don't grow nearly as large as the ones you can buy at the grocery store. Or we just really screwed up the plants. Our broccoli plants are finally starting to produce florets, and we have a few cantaloupe, but we are worried they won't mature. Our other peppers, however, have been doing quite well.
But back to the cucumbers. Gretch had purchased a pickle seasoning mix from an Amish market near Arthur, Illinois, which came with no directions. So we looked up some online and threw everything together. While I focused on boiling water, vinegar, and salt and deciding how much of the mix to add to the brine solution, Gretch focused on slicing the cucumbers for sandwiches, spear wedges, and round slices.
I made enough of the pickling solution for five quart-size jars of cucumbers, so Gretch filled the jars with the cucumbers and I added the solution. Then we put on the lids and put them in a large pot of boiling water for sealing the lids.
The process of sealing worked for four of the five jars. One didn't seal, most likely because the ring we used didn't hold the lid down as well as we thought. We kept that jar in the refrigerator so we could eat them right way. The other four jars have been put in the laundry room with the rest of our food storage.
As far as pickling goes, it seemed to work. As far as balancing the proportion of spices and the vinegar/water solution, I apparently used a lot more than needed. A lot lot more. Whoops. Well, I'm sure we can figure out something to do with the pickled cucumbers we are keeping in storage. I've heard suggestions like saving them for egg or macaroni salads or just putting them on sandwiches. No matter what, we will use this as a learning experience and be more careful with the seasoning proportions for our next batch of pickled cucumbers!
As an aside, our bell peppers have been a catastrophic failure. They don't get very big before they rot and fall of the plant. We probably over-watered them. I also have a hunch that garden bell peppers don't grow nearly as large as the ones you can buy at the grocery store. Or we just really screwed up the plants. Our broccoli plants are finally starting to produce florets, and we have a few cantaloupe, but we are worried they won't mature. Our other peppers, however, have been doing quite well.
But back to the cucumbers. Gretch had purchased a pickle seasoning mix from an Amish market near Arthur, Illinois, which came with no directions. So we looked up some online and threw everything together. While I focused on boiling water, vinegar, and salt and deciding how much of the mix to add to the brine solution, Gretch focused on slicing the cucumbers for sandwiches, spear wedges, and round slices.
I made enough of the pickling solution for five quart-size jars of cucumbers, so Gretch filled the jars with the cucumbers and I added the solution. Then we put on the lids and put them in a large pot of boiling water for sealing the lids.
The process of sealing worked for four of the five jars. One didn't seal, most likely because the ring we used didn't hold the lid down as well as we thought. We kept that jar in the refrigerator so we could eat them right way. The other four jars have been put in the laundry room with the rest of our food storage.
As far as pickling goes, it seemed to work. As far as balancing the proportion of spices and the vinegar/water solution, I apparently used a lot more than needed. A lot lot more. Whoops. Well, I'm sure we can figure out something to do with the pickled cucumbers we are keeping in storage. I've heard suggestions like saving them for egg or macaroni salads or just putting them on sandwiches. No matter what, we will use this as a learning experience and be more careful with the seasoning proportions for our next batch of pickled cucumbers!
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