Canning Cucumbers

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Brook,

My fav Fall/Winter veg trio is blanched parsnips, carrots and turnips tossed with brown butter and parsley. YUM!

[jglass]

I was talking to Cole on the phone the other day and her little one comes and tells her there is a deer in the front yard. Its the middle of the day and the deer is just prancing about their yard. She has like 3 dogs outside who were no where to be seen lol.
Jons uncle said they ate the watermelons along with his roses and all of his wife's flowers. They ate every flower Cole had in her yard. Jons aunt was telling me she had her geen beans by the fence in her garden and they are eating every bit of vine they can reach.
The birds have been dropping apples from Jons Dads trees like crazy. He shot some of them when I was there yesterday.
I really hated to hear the granny smiths had been munched. They are my favorite lol.
We have a nice row of carrots in the garden. I love parsnips. Luckily the garden at Jons bothers is fenced in. They always take their stuff to the farmers markets and sell it. Jons Dad stopped growing corn several years ago because of the deer and birds. Thie year he put out several rows of corn. As soon as it starts to come on the deer will take it.

[jglass]

Im going to be pickling beets very soon.

[KYHeirloomer]

Not a bad combo, Kevin. I prefer them roasted to blanched, in a pear glaze, a la Mollie Katzen.

But my favorite way of making parsnips starts with a venison loin and a handful of garlic.

[jglass]

For $4 at our local store you can get 3-4 soft and bendable parsnips in a bag.
I have to have them when I make white wine vegetable soup. If Im at the store and actually find a fresh pack I make my soup lol.

[jglass]

Well guys I got 11 more quarts of Aunt Agnes's pickles made.

[Mama Mangia]

Now that you have all these dill pickles -

(sorry - eyeball it - no measurements):

Just an appetizer/snack

Combine egg whites, swiss cheese, chopped pickles and garlic salt. Drop by teaspoonsful into the bread crumbs; roll and coat well while forming small balls. Chill until ready to serve.

Fry in deep fat (375 degrees F.) until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain well on paper towels.



Fried Dill Pickle Slices

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup ice water
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
4 cups drained dill pickle slices or equivalent amount of medium to large pickles, sliced 1/4-inch thick
vegetable oil for frying

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center. All at once, add the water, egg yolk, and pickle juice. Stir the mixture with a wire whisk to make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.



Pickle Pinwheels

1/2 lb. thinly sliced ham, salami, or dried beef
1 4oz pkg. softened cream cheese
4 large kosher dill pickles, whole


Pat dill pickle dry with paper towel.

Take 2-3 pieces of meat (depending on size of pickle), and place them on a cutting board overlapping half of each with the next. (If your lucky, you can find the ham/salami cut in a rectangular shape as opposed to square. In this case, you can use just one slice and it will encase the entire pickle.)
Spread cream cheese over meat.
(You can use more cream cheese if you like.) Wrap pickle around in blanket fashion.
Lay on plastic wrap (Saran) and roll; chill for an hour or two, then slice pickle in ~1/2 inch pieces and lay flat on try.
(If using dried beef, you can also put meat in blender and pulverise. Spread cream cheese on dried pickle then roll in pulverized beef. Again, allow to refrigerate 1-2 hours and slice as above.)



Dill Pickle Soup

2 cans (14 1/2 ounce) vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
4 large Polish Dill Pickles, diced
2 carrots, cooked, sliced
2/3 cup liquid from pickle jar, or water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons Flour
2 1/2 cups cubed, boiled potatoes (optional)
1 cup dairy sour cream (optional)


Grate or finely chop (food processor ok) pickles and carrots. Melt butter in large pan, add flour, mix well. Add vegetable stock or broth and pickle juice or water. Add potatoes, pickles, and carrots. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Ladle out, add sour cream on top, and serve.

[jglass]

Thanks Mama.
I have been meaning to try fried pickles.
The pinwheels sounds really good.

Im done making pickles. I have plenty now for me and Jon wont eat them.
If we get alot more from that patch Im going to give them to our Thai friend. Im sure she can put them to use.

I opened a jar of the Homemade Refrigerator Pickles yesterday and had some with a sandwich. Very good pickles. Tasted just like the ones I remembered my Mamaw making when I was little. I remember my Papa eating them with soup beans and cornbread. It is funny how tastes and smells can take you way back. Brook's Sweet Pickle Spears were delish too. I cant tell you guys how much I appreciate all of the help. Other than making some pickled peppers last year I had never done this sort of thing before.

I have to get some more jars and then Im gonna pickle some beets.

[KYHeirloomer]

Beets can be a little tricky, Janie.

Virtually every canning recipe for them tells you to cook them before you peel them. Pay attention to that! It's really one of those things which logically shouldn't matter, but which in reality does.

You can pickle beets using a water bath, but you have to process them two days longer than forever. 30 minutes is the recommended time, for pints or quarts. If you process them in a pressure canner, they go 30 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts, at 10 pounds.

Here, from the Ball Blue Book, is a recipe that goes just beyond plain old pickled beets. They call it:

Spicy Pickled Beets

4 lbs beets, 1- to 1 1/2 inch diameter
3 cups thinly sliced onions
2 cups sugar
3 sticks cinnamon, broken
1 tbls mustard seed
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water

Wash and drain beets. leave 2 inches of stems and tap roots. Put beets in a large saucepot. Cover with boiling water and cook until tender. Drain. Remove peel; trim ends. Combine remaining ingredients ina large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add beets and cook until hot throughout. Remove cinnamon sticks. Pack hot beets into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Ladle hot liquid over beets, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 30 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Just as a sidenote. Whenever you have to process for long periods like a half hour, it's a good idea to have the jars covered by at least two inches of water before you start. That way there's little chance of the water boiling away enough to expose the lids.

[KYHeirloomer]

Janie, is there a Big Lots near you? I noticed they have the Golden Harvest jars at a pretty fair price.