In a Pickle!

Yay, SUCCESS! My first attempt at canning pickles went well! I made 4 quarts of kosher dill pickles, and 6 pints of bread & butter pickles.

First of all, can I tell you that it was a LOT of WORK! I didn't realize the time it would take, nor the amount of pots, pans, bowls and burners I would use! I didn't have a bowl big enough to mix the ingredients for the bread & butter pickles, so I scoured my sink and used it instead. One side of the sink was filled with slices of cucumbers & onions, garlic, ice, and salt to set for 3 hours. In the meantime, I filled the canner with water and got that heating as well as another saucepan for the brine for the bread & butter pickles. The canner was so large that it took up 2/3 of the space on my stove! Still another pan was to simmer the lids & rims and another to boil water to cover the jars. I also ran the jars on the rinse cycle of the dishwasher to sterilize them. Needless to say, it was getting quite warm in the kitchen! Oh, did I fail to mention that the heat index for the day was 109? Humidity city!

I didn't have enough dill seed for the kosher dills, so I ended up having to spend 3 dollars (yes, you read it right!) for a package of fresh dill. Note for future reference ~ grow the dill myself! I had to juggle pans to make my brine for the kosher dills, and use the other sink to rinse, chop & slice the cucumbers into spears.

I packed the quart jars with cucumber spears, a clove of garlic, red pepper flakes, and the "best dill you can ever buy"! I processed the kosher dills successfully while I was waiting for the cucumbers & onions to drain. I was gratified to hear the familiar "pop" of the jar lids, and put the now-ready cucumber & onion slices into the sweet, hot brine. Once they boiled, I filled the pint jars and processed them. Six "pops" later, I cleaned up the mess and stood back to admire my labor of love. Glistening jars of verdant green koshers and a satisfying shade of yellow-green bread & butters graced my kitchen counter.

Although it was work, it was fun! I enjoyed the remembered scents of my mom's canning era now wafting around my kitchen. I still have to wait a week until I can taste-test my efforts, so I'll share my judgement then.

This little foray into the canning world was great for me. In fact, I hope to have a garden of my own next summer. I want to grow my own onions, lettuce, carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, green beans, peas, and cucumbers to can. I also want to grow herbs like chives, Italian flat-leaf parsley, basil, and dill to season my foods. I'd also like to grow lavender, sweet peas, and pansies to garnish and decorate with. How fun this is!