pickle day

The other day I ordered 20 lbs of pickling cukes and dill from the fruit stand and then promptly forgot about it. When I ordered them, we talked about having them ready for delivery this weekend. On Saturday, after the boy had swimming and a play date, we stopped by the fruit stand on the way home. We bought peaches and nectarines, mini cukes and tomatoes, corn and strawberries and eggplant. I forgot about the pickling cukes and so did the fruit stand guy. He called me later so I swung by later and picked them up. The dill scented the car all the way home and then filled my kitchen with dill perfume once I hoisted the pickles and dill into the kitchen. I started washing cukes to make bread and butter pickles as I remembered them taking a while, what with the slicing of the cukes and onions. I allowed 7 lbs for bread and butter pickles, mainly on a friend's recommendation - as she says - "these pickles rock". She told me the story of how she served them to her mum for lunch one day and her mum said " I'm not really a pickle person". She was convinced to try them because of the whole "they rock" thing and ate lots. So this recipe converts non-pickle people. The rest went for dill pickles, my husband's favorite.

I ended up prepping all the bread and butter pickles

and canning about half of the dill pickles and then I ran out of vinegar and energy. So bright and early Sunday morning I went and bought white vinegar and proceeded on with finishing the dill pickles and then processing the bread and butter pickles. I had one casualty - one jar of dills broke in the water bath (sniff) but I have an impressive array of pickles on the counter - periodically one pops. Such a satisfying sound when canning.

Bread and Butter Pickles (from here)

~ 1 lb of pickling cucumbers, scrubbed
1 medium onion
2 tbsp pickling salt
water
1 c. apple cider vinegar
1 c. sugar
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric

Slice cucumbers and onions very thin and layer in a bowl with the salt. Nearly cover with ice cold water and set aside in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight. Drain. Rinse well and drain. Prepare the jars.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil stirring the dissolve the sugar. As soon as it boils add the cucumber mix and bring to a simmer.

Remove from the heat and spoon into the prepared jars allowing for 3/4 to 1 1/2" of headspace. Pour the pickling liquid over the pickles, evenly distributing the seeds. Cap and process in a water bath for ~ 10 minutes.

this truck appeared curtesy of the boy - he decided it didn't belong on his construction dig in the back yard

canning weekend

So last time, I mentioned that its been a bit busy around here. And last weekend, I added more onto my plate in the interests of preserving summer. I bought a huge box of peaches, big, beautiful Okanagan peaches.

And I had plans to can the whole box. And I did. Over two days I made canned peach slices,

 peach sauce, peach jam and peach chutney. And if that wasn't enough, while the canner was boiling away, I made some tomato jam and more dill pickles. The dill pickles was a last minute addition. The ones I made about last month have been sampled and 3 quarts have been consumed already and another 2 quarts have been given away. So I panicked a bit about my dwindling stocks and with the end of summer looming, I bought 15 lbs of organic cukes and added that to my canning weekend. On Friday night, waiting for my husband to come home, I put up 5 lbs of the cukes into dill pickle spears.

The following morning I started the tomato jam before soccer

and then after soccer came the peach chutney

and canning peach slices and I started peaches in the slow cooker for sauce.





Sunday I canned the peach sauce, made peach jam and pickled 10 lbs of cukes into dill pickles. Phew! But I get an enormous sense of satisfaction from my cupboard filled with jars full of summer goodness.



Peach Sauce

8 large peaches, washed, pitted and sliced

1/4 c water

Put the peaches and water in a slow cooker and cook on low until the peaches are soft enough to go through a food mill. Process the peaches until relatively smooth. Add 1 lemon's worth of juice to the peach sauce. Pack into sterilized jars, cap and process in a canning bath for 10 minutes.



Peach Chutney (from Canadian Living)

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 c chopped onions

1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes



1/4 tsp pepper

8 c sliced peaches

2-1/2 c granulated sugar

1 c golden raisins



1 c cider vinegar

In a large dutch oven, saute the onions in the oil and add the mustard seeds, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves, pepper flakes and pepper. Once the onions are softened, add the peaches, sugar, raisins and vinegar. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for about 1 hours, until the mixture mounds on a spoon. Pour into sterilized canning jars, leaving 1/2" headspace  and seal. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.



  Peach Jam (adapted from Tea and Cookies)

5 lbs diced peaches
1 lb 3 1/2 oz sugar
juice of 2 1/2 lemons

Place the peaches, sugar and lemon juice in a dutch oven. Stir to a simmer over heat until a jam state is reached, skimming off any scum that forms on the service. Pour into sterilized jars and process in a canning bath for 10 minutes.

cucumbers + dill = pickles (hopefully)

Last year, at our fruit stand, I saw a woman buy a big box of cucumbers and huge bunches of dill. "Don't forget to make your pickles right away so the cucumbers stay crunchy" was the advice from the fruit stand guy. So this year, I thought I would try making pickles myself. So a couple of weeks ago, I asked the fruit stand guy to put my name down for a box of cucumbers and dill. And last week I got a message from him saying I would get my box on Monday. So I found a recipe, got out my jars and lids, bought vinegar and pickling salt and on Monday, the boy and I stopped and bought the box of cucumbers and dill. And I got the "make them right away so the cucumbers stay crunchy and wash them really well" advice.

So I washed and sorted cucumbers for about an hour - all 10 pounds of them.

I washed the jars and lids, boiled the water in the canning pot and made the brine. Then I stuffed the jars with dill,

mustard seed, black pepper corns and the cucumbers and topped them up with the brine solution. Into the canning bath for 20 minutes and now they are put away in the cupboard to "cure".

They look like pickles, so I'm hoping they taste like pickles.

Here's how I did it:

Dill Pickles (based on blue ribbon dill pickles from food.com)

9 wide mouth jar, with lids and seals
10 lbs cucumbers, washed and sorted by size
fresh dill, flowers and a few inches of stem
mustard seeds
pepper corns

17 c water
4 1/2 c white vinegar
1 c pickling salt

Wash the jars and keep hot, either in a canning bath or from the dishwasher. Place the lids and seals into a saucepan, cover with water and simmer. Shake the dill flowers and sprigs to remove any bugs. Fill the canning bath half full of water and set to boil on the stove.

Make the brine by adding the water, vinegar and salt to a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat to low until ready.

When everything is ready, begin to fill the hot jars, one at a time. Place a few dill flowers in the bottom of each jar, add 5 peppercorns, a few mustard seeds and fill the jar with cucumbers, fitting the cucumbers in tightly up to the neck of the jars. Pour the brine in the jars, leaving 1/2" head space. Add a tiny sprig of dill to the top and cap with the lid and seal. Place the jars in the canning bath. Process for 15 minutes. Remove from the bath onto a clean towel and let cool, covered with another towel for 24 hours. Place in a dark, dry area for storage.