Since my wife has been sidelined because of her surgeries, I have become very domesticated. Now I am making sweet cucumber pickles. We use an old stoneware crock (this one is circa 1850's, and when I was a kid every farmhouse in Virginia had several of these sitting around. Now they are called antiques.) Each batch takes 7 days to complete. Lots of work but so good in the end. It's like Zach's pasta efforts, made at home is always better. I'll probably do about 30 pints in total.
Ask anyone that really knows me, and they will confirm I am a pickle diehard.
I know the terms vary according to location, but in the Northeast, the sweet one's are usually called 'gherkins'. I love them, but then again, I do not discriminate when it comes to pickles. I can normally breeze through a whole jar in one sitting, which probably isn't healthy, but damn, it makes my stomach feel awfully good.
There's nothing like a cold, juicy pickle on a hot day to cool a person down. Chilled cucumbers are also great, as are sliced peppers.
Now you just have to find a nice
shade tree (lol) somewhere, plop yourself on down, and gorge out
Beautiful jars, too!
Joe
I remember my Grandmother in PA canning all kinds of vegetables and pickles too. Big pots boiling on the coal stove in the kitchen and all that bottle noise. Gramps and her raised chickens too and they had seasoned chicken in jars as well. Long ago I think I ate some chicken soup in the Summer that she canned the past Winter and never knew the difference. I don't know if she used the crocks though, as I recall, although my mom had a lot of empty ones in the basement cupboards in Ohio, my mom never canned. The convenience of the JIT grocery stores had taken over by then. My mother in law in PA used to can that, I think it was called Chow, Chow, with the peppers and cauliflower and stuff, and it was absolutely the greatest as a side for lunch. Had a tang and crunch you could never forget. I love the Gherkins too and always have a Vlasic jar of them in the fridge. Here in Ohio, Amish Bread & Butter chips are to die for! Duplicated by my cousins wife Sue, she makes the best, in my opinion, on the planet. It's an Amish recipe and she's got it down to the upper nines!
Otherwise I am very happy to hear you are helping the wife with the traditional mores that she brings to you. Sure beats the i this and i that. Canning is somewhat of a lost art and it's good to see that you are prolonging it, as it was an important part of 18/19/20th century culture and survival here in the US. Making something that tastes GREAT and KEEPS for long periods!
Kudos to you Shade! And your wife for re-learning you something!
Ed
I was too young to remember but grandma did all of that.
Congratulations on your new batch, very cool
That's a damn old pot! Imagine everything that's been through it...very cool! I'm sure they'll taste great! Maybe I'll try it out soon! Thanks for sharing
sounds great - some people over here do refrigerator pickles they are good and less work you just have to keep them refrigerated.
Also I do a lot of work with cucumbers at work we grow 3600 acres of the harvest starts july 10 till October everyday. We tank some and ship the rest we ship to like 5 states we have 600 vats which hold a semi load in each one.
Lots of great eating in the fields
Glad you fellas liked the pickle post. I thought it might bring back some memories for the older guys. Hard to believe that in this day of instant everything, there was a time , even in my memory, when people were largely self sufficient, like my grandparents.
I remember my grandmothers doing some canning. She love gardening and most the time it was consumed before she could can anything. They were small gardens. I recall having some nice pickles. I like pickles. All kinds too, but I lean toward sweet pickles. I like the bread & butter with the nice crunch too. Thanks for sharing.
I only made pickles once , they were great , but now I wimp out and just go to the store....
Looks like you've got a nice setup to make them.
Pat