Friday, August 15, 2008

Pickling



Ever since our trip to Chattanooga for Christmas Maya has been hooked on pickles! While staying with Grandma we visited David's Deli for lunch. David, a good friend, gave Maya a pickle to suck on. We were a bit nervous the vinegar would curdle the milk in her stomach but she sucked on it for hours until there was nothing left but a dry cucumber. We had to go to the store that afternoon to buy some more and the rest is history.

A couple of weeks ago I finally found one of my favorite pickles in the Harris Teeter store near our house. Wickles are wickedly delicious pickles that are both sweet and spicy. Since Maya loves pickles so much I decided to give her a taste. She loved them! They are a bit spicy so she'll have tears running down her face while eating them but a grin from ear to ear in shear enjoyment.

Since we are really big into canning and especially making the foods we give Maya, I decided to make my Grandmother's pickles for Maya. I added a few spicy peppers to some of the jars so we can have some that are on the spicy side for Maya.



Here is the recipe for Crisp Pickle Slices.

4 quarts sliced medium sized cucumbers - very thin sliced
6 small white onions sliced
2 green peppers sliced
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup salt (not iodized)
5 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
2 TBS mustard seed
3 cups white vinegar

Do not peel cucumbers. Add onions, peppers and whole garlic cloves to sliced cucumbers. Add salt and cover with cracked ice. Let stand three hours. Drain thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over cucumber mixture. Heat just to boiling then remove from heat. Seal in hot sterilized jars (place jars in boiling water for 10 minutes before filling them with the pickle mixture). Add spicy peppers to the jars you wish to make hot. Makes 6-8 pints.

It made a lot so I really hope they turned out good. I'm sure Maya will let you know how they are once we crack open a jar!


2 comments:

redheadedhowler said...

Great post! Are all those veggies from your garden?! If so, I need you guys to come up here and give me a lesson in gardening -- ours was a total fracaso this year. I'll have to try this, E loves pickles too. (Oh, and by the way Dunlaps disease had me laughing out loud.)

Brad said...

No our garden has been a bust too. Our cukes died for some reason, our peppers were eaten by a tobacco hornworm and our squash and melon never produced! Our tomatoes are alive but all green.

All of these veggies came from our CSA and our neighbor who has a farm and sells his produce on the honor system. It is so great that there is still someone out there who believes in the honor system!!