In a Pickel

I have always wanted to make my own pickels. This year, I planted a wonderful cucumber bush that gives little gherken size cucs for pickeling. That is the best producing plant of the year, except that it doesn't give me enough at a time for pickeling - at least not yet. So yesterday when I went back to Rodin Farms for more 8 fr $1.00 bell peppers, I saw these beautiful pickeling cucumbers and picked up a "few". $2.00 worth of cucumbers netted us 7 jars of glorious pickels.
So here is what I did, so I won't forget it! I washed, chopped and soaked the cucumbers in an ice water bath. I cut off the blossom ends. I sterlized the jars and sent Nolan to the store to pick up more lids - one more bag for the plarn!

I mixed the below in two cups of vinegar and heated it on the stove until it just came to a simmer - not a boil. While that was on the stove, I packed the cucumbers in jars and waited anxiously for the pot to boil.

1/3-cup sugar
1/3-cup canning salt, available at most large grocery stores (not Iodized salt; but kosher salt will work)
1/2-cup (packed) fresh dill (from your garden or the grocery store's fresh vegetable dept) 1yellow onion, peeled and chopped finely
3-cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced OR 3 level teaspoons prepared (minced) garlic
1-tsp dry mustard
1-tsp pickeling spice
1-tsp dill seed

The recipe I followed, did not say to strain the liquid - not sure if that would have been better or not - I didn't feel like the vinegar could have possibly absorbed all that good flavor though, so I left it poured it all over the cucumbers and discovered I didn't have near enough liquid!!! So I started again. The above works for about two pint size wide mouth jars. So pack your cucumbers first to see how much you need. That would have been helpful information, huh?

Once you pour the hot liquid, you seal the jars and let cool for two hours. Then they go in the fridge for up to 8 months. No canning! You are supposed to wait 24 hours to taste, but if you think I could wait, you don't know me very well. I lasted 16 hours and my they are the best pickels I have ever tasted!!

Now, I don't know if I did everything just right and if my pickels will be edible even two weeks from now, but I'll let you know. But for now, it wouldn't be possible to get sick, so we are going to eat them up and hope my little bush comes on with enough produce to try little whole pickels.

P.S. they are really crunchy! At least for now....

So, about the bell peppers....Unfortunately, Rodin's was sold out yesterday. I made stuffed bell peppers for the first time on Monday and everyone went crazy for them. Haley had trouble eating them, because she just got her braces tightened and was having a really hard time, but Nolan has gone back for seconds and thirds and has had them for dinner again this week. Haley doesn't really like bell peppers, but Frank says this is the way he learned to like them - the flavor permeates the rest of the stuffing, so you begin to enjoy the flavor, even if you are just using the bell for a bowl! So, my plan is to get quite a lot and freeze some stuffed bells for later in the fall and cut up several for soups, etc. They keep great in the freezer, as my in-laws taught me and they can get quite pricey in the winter and 12.5 cents is just too good to pass up.