Pickles

This has been an year for experimenting with pickle making for me. I've never attempted to make pickles before so I've been doing a lot of trial and error and trying out various recipes. The first pickles that I made are garlic pickles. Although they are pretty and turned out well, they certainly are sour. But, on the up side, there will be no vampires at this house cause they are powerful.

I've also tried pickling foods other than cucumbers. Here are the green tomatoes that I just pickled. The directions say to wait 4 to 6 weeks after processing before eating so the jury is still out as to how good they are. I have recently tried a recipe that at first glance looked to be rather complicated. However, after trying it I found that it not only made the best pickles I have ever eaten but it was also relatively easy to do. I found this recipe in the Ball Blue Book of Canning and I shall pass it on to you. I shall be honest, I didn't follow it down to the minute. I have to work so the pickles had to work around my schedule. Also, I didn't weigh and measure my cukes, I just used what I had and it all worked out.

 

 

 

Ingredients:
5 pounds of 3 to 4 inch cucumbers cut into 1 inch slices
1 1/2 C Ball Salt
4 Q plus 3 C water, divided
2 Q plus 1 C Vinegar, divided
4 to 5 C sugar, divided
2 TBLS Ball Mixed Pickling Spice

Directions:
Put cucumber slices in a clean pickling container. Dissolve salt in 4 Q water. Pour over cucumber slices. Weight cucumbers under brine. (I used a dinner plate for this) Cover container and let stand 36 hours in a cool place. (Mine ended up soaking 48 hours because I couldn't leave work in the middle of the day for pickles) Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly and discard brine. Pour 1 Q vinegar over cucumbers and add enough water to cover. Simmer 10 minutes. Drain, discarding liquid. Combine 2 C sugar, 5 C vinegar, and 3 C water in large pot. Tie spice in spice bg and add to vinegar mixture. Simmer 10 min. Pour over cucumbers and let stand for 24 hours. Drain, reserving liquid, add remaining 2 to 3 C sugar to pickling liquid according to taste (I used 2.5 C) bring to a boil and then pour over cucumbers. Cover and let stand for 24 hours. Remove spice bag and cucumbers. Discard bag. Bring pickling liquid to a boil. Pack pickles into hot jars, leaving 1/2 in headspace. Ladle hot liquid over pickles, leaving 1/2 in headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 15 min in a boiling water canner.


Do you have a good recipe or any pickling hints to pass on? Feel free to leave them in the comments.

Peas and Cantaloupes

Finding time to post this time of year has been difficult. We are right in the middle of harvest time for our peas and cantaloupes. We have about 20 rows of purple hull peas that we have been picking and shelling, thank goodness for the automatic pea sheller. To date we have shelled 20 gallons of peas and aren't done yet. These we are selling for $4/lb and a gallon bag weighs 5 lbs. If you are looking for purple hull peas, shelled or unshelled, give us a call.

Our melons this year have done wonderfully. The cantaloupes we have produced are nearly as big as basketballs and taste great. Currently we are pulling anywhere from 200 to over 500 per day and are selling out nearly as fast as we can pick them. If you are in the market for cantaloupes give us a call.

Ratatouille

With all the fresh veggies coming out of the garden I've been trying to find new recipes. I had been wanting to try ratatouille since I saw the cartoon mouse make it years ago but being unfamiliar with eggplant I was a bit hesitant. After trying it I now can't believe I waited so long and decided to share this wonderful recipe.






Ingredients:


1 med-large eggplant


2-3 med size zucchini


2 bell peppers (any color)


1/3 c olive oil


2 can crushed tomatoes w Italian seasoning
salt to taste




Directions:


Dice eggplant and zucchini into one inch pieces.  Dice bell pepper into small pieces.


In large pan sauté eggplant a few min then add zucchini and  bell pepper. Cook til nearly done and then add tomatoes and salt.


Simmer til veggies are cook through. 




This recipe couldn't be simpler and is a wonderful side dish or as a meal on its own as it is so hearty.