Monday, August 4, 2008

Spontaneous Pickles

Pipsqueak and I were poking around in the garden to see what was ready to be picked. We found lots of beans, a couple of tomatoes and a few cucumbers. Most were slicing cukes, but two pickling cukes were ready. I suddenly felt a strong urge to make pickles. They were on the big size, so I thought we might have enough to make a quart jar. "Pipsqeak," I said with excitement and determination in my voice, "we're going to make pickles!" "Right now?" she asked, a bit incredulous. "If we have everything we need, yes!" She knows, after six years, that when I get like this, she might as well just go with it.

First I hit the internet. I needed an easy dill pickle recipe. I found this one and divided everything by eight since we were only making a quart. We made another trip to the garden to pick dill, made the brine, sliced the cukes, peeled the garlic, put everything in the jar and processed it in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Voila! One jar of pickles in a half hour! (I skipped the ice water soak. I am not a patient woman when I get inspired.) Now we have to wait two months to open them. I can't wait, but in the meantime, they are beautiful to look at.

The fruit of our labor. Vlasic, eat your heart out.

Dreams of future pickles. Come on little guys... grow, grow!


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like pickles but they give me BAD gas. I had a friend once who ate his pickles after only one month - his large intestine got lodged in his nostril and it had to be surgically removed so, wait at least 2 months or else.

Anonymous said...

You used the wrong vinegar - that happened to me too except my spleen landed on the kitchen floor during Thanksgiving dinner. Try Shaw's brand.

Anonymous said...

You and your blog are awesome! LOL OMG WTF - I don't know what those things mean but I notice other bloggers write them so I will too!

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Map