What Did You Do In The Garden?

[SPedigrees]

Ok, I will do some back peddling on this - if the cucumber is small, then I eat the whole thing! If it's big, then I deseed and peel.

Well then, if I were lurking in your kitchen I would fill a bowl with seeds from your large cucumbers, drizzle blue cheese dressing over, and eat it with a spoon!

That's like a visiting relative some years ago who wanted to make an egg white omelette. We were a good pair; I beat and scrambled up her unwanted yokes for my own breakfast. win/win

 

[Zeedman]

Tuesday, while working in the yard, a family of about 20 dropped in unexpectedly for a visit. Other than keeping a watchful eye on me, they didn't seem to mind my presence... even when I followed them to take photos. Hopefully they were 'gobbling' up Japanese beetles.

Good thing turkeys can't read minds, because while I appreciated watching the family work its way across the yard, for some strange reason all I could think of was November.

 

[digitS']

removing the seeds is like eating an artichoke and discarding the heart.

Noooo!

Okay, if you would like to experience the taste of what SPedigrees is appreciating maybe this will give you a small idea.

Scrape away those big, coarse seeds to your heart's content. Then: Scrape all the pulp out to the rind. You can also peel away the rind, first. Then, and after you have scraped out those big, coarse seeds, you can grate the "meat" of the cucumber. You can sprinkle a little AC vinegar on it if you like, maybe that salad dressing.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

My cucumbers did incredibly well this year, to the point where it was a challenge finding homes for them all. It was like "zucchini syndrome", where your friends and neighbors turn & run when they see you coming with a box. I had 15 plants this year. Eight of those plants (the Japanese variety "Nippon Sanjaku Kiuri") were intended for seed production... but I forgot to tell that to the plants, and they just kept producing regardless of all the cukes let go for seed.

Fortunately the cucumbers have begun winding down... because tomatoes, peppers, and dry seed are ramping up. As soon as there are enough ripe peppers, I'll start canning salsa. Limas, cowpeas, and yardlongs have gone into overdrive, and can literally dry down over-night.

Seed saving is now in full speed.
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I just noticed DW peeking between the shelves... it reminds me of how we met.

Your seed saving rack is amazing! Do you ever dehydrate seeds at very low Temps to speed up the process?
So how did you meet your DW? If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to read about it.
My husband and I disagree about our first meeting. He thinks we met at his church (I went to college with his sister and attended church with her sometimes) and I remember meeting him at a bowling alley the first week in college. His details are fuzzy so right now I'm winning . All I remember is that I used to punch him in the arm when he made smart comments . I guess my flirting hurts?!

 

[SPedigrees]

Do you by any chance have a good pickle recipe? And in your opinion is it necessary that the jars be hot when you fill them with the cukes? I am hoping my husband can help me to trim and pack the cucumbers in the jars, and that we can just fill the jars with hot brine before placing them in the water bath canner.

First I should state that the pickles I make are strictly refrigerator pickles. In other words I cut up the cucumbers, fill the jars with the pieces, then mix up the brine in a pan on the stove, bring it to a boil, pour it into the filled jars, let them cool, put the lids on, and then store permanently in the fridge. So I've never actually done any canning. (Unless you count blackberry jam that I made long ago sealed with paraffin, but even then I stored them in the refrigerator just to play it safe.) I never had the opportunity to learn canning from someone who knew how, nor the confidence to attempt it on my own.

Way back in the 1970s I once used this recipe to make bread & butter pickles. It is from a 1971 edition of "The Joy of Cooking." I followed this recipe pretty much to the letter, save the couple exceptions penciled in, and skipping the sealing and processing step at the bottom. Also I must have cut this recipe by 2/3rds because I remember I made only two quarts. Interestingly this recipe calls for using "hot sterile jars" so I guess I must have heated them although I can't recall how I did this.

Cut to the present timeline, last summer was the first time I'd ever made dill pickles, and the first time making bread & butter pickles since that one time in the 70's. I think I made about 3 batches of each kind as the cucumbers kept ripening. This time around I just very loosely followed online recipes. I did not heat the jars, but I'm thinking now that perhaps it would have been a good idea. If I remember correctly, the ingredients I used for the B&B pickle brine were:
apple cider vinegar, coarse salt, organic white sugar, brown sugar, sliced garlic cloves, sliced onions, whole peppercorns, whole coriander seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Vinegar was the only ingredient I measured; the other ingredients I think I just added to taste.

For the dill pickles I think I used one part apple cider vinegar to 2 parts water, coarse salt (more than for the B&B pickles), garlic cloves thinly sliced, peppercorns, coriander seeds, some sugar (not as much as for B&B pickles) and of course homegrown dill that I packed into each jar with the cucumber slices.

I'm afraid my pickling adventures set down here are not likely to be much use to you. Apologies...

 

[flowerbug]

First I should state that the pickles I make are strictly refrigerator pickles. In other words I cut up the cucumbers, fill the jars with the pieces, then mix up the brine in a pan on the stove, bring it to a boil, pour it into the filled jars, let them cool, put the lids on, and then store permanently in the fridge. So I've never actually done any canning. (Unless you count blackberry jam that I made long ago sealed with paraffin, but even then I stored them in the refrigerator just to play it safe.) I never had the opportunity to learn canning from someone who knew how, nor the confidence to attempt it on my own.

Way back in the 1970s I once used this recipe to make bread & butter pickles. It is from a 1971 edition of "The Joy of Cooking." I followed this recipe pretty much to the letter, save the couple exceptions penciled in, and skipping the sealing and processing step at the bottom. Also I must have cut this recipe by 2/3rds because I remember I made only two quarts. Interestingly this recipe calls for using "hot sterile jars" so I guess I must have heated them although I can't recall how I did this.

View attachment 60352

Cut to the present timeline, last summer was the first time I'd ever made dill pickles, and the first time making bread & butter pickles since that one time in the 70's. I think I made about 3 batches of each kind as the cucumbers kept ripening. This time around I just very loosely followed online recipes. I did not heat the jars, but I'm thinking now that perhaps it would have been a good idea. If I remember correctly, the ingredients I used for the B&B pickle brine were:
apple cider vinegar, coarse salt, organic white sugar, brown sugar, sliced garlic cloves, sliced onions, whole peppercorns, whole coriander seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Vinegar was the only ingredient I measured; the other ingredients I think I just added to taste.

For the dill pickles I think I used one part apple cider vinegar to 2 parts water, coarse salt (more than for the B&B pickles), garlic cloves thinly sliced, peppercorns, coriander seeds, some sugar (not as much as for B&B pickles) and of course homegrown dill that I packed into each jar with the cucumber slices.

I'm afraid my pickling adventures set down here are not likely to be much use to you. Apologies...

if acidic enough you can seal the jars and they should be ok for a year or so. sure they may not be very crisp but they still may taste ok. i've done hundreds of quarts of dill pickles and bread and butter pickles this way. as long as the jars are clean you do not have to sterilize them, the acidic brine is sufficient, but the jars and lids do have to be clean to start.

as for filling the jars with hot brine after packing them, i just warm them up a little with some hot water and the sprayer in the sink, then i set them upside down on a towel to drain for a few moments as i'm filling them. they do not break if they are canning jars and are not chipped or cracked to begin with. some people waste a lot of energy boiling them or using a dish washer and all that, but i think it's a waste of time and $. we lose jars to dropping them in the sink or in the garage than to problems during processing.

 

[Phaedra]

I pruned a lot of plants this morning, one full wheelbarrow - cosmos, tomatoes, sunflowers, calendula, roses, and other perennials. Well, in fact, those annuals provide a lot of materials for the homemade compost.

 

[flowerbug]

yesterday buried stuff from canning tomatoes and then cut up some melons to refill that bucket so again today i'll need to bury some more goodies in a garden for the worms to enjoy.

it was a nice day yesterday even if the weather was misty most of the morning i was inside anyways sorting through bean pods and some shelling of beans and also reading to finish up a book i'd started last week.

today i'll see what i can do outside later after the fog burns off and things dry out a bit more. inside i'll rotate the bean pods in the flats to make sure they are drying down properly and perhaps shell some out.

 

[SPedigrees]

as for filling the jars with hot brine after packing them, i just warm them up a little with some hot water and the sprayer in the sink, then i set them upside down on a towel to drain for a few moments as i'm filling them. they do not break if they are canning jars and are not chipped or cracked to begin with. some people waste a lot of energy boiling them or using a dish washer and all that, but i think it's a waste of time and $. we lose jars to dropping them in the sink or in the garage than to problems during processing.

This sounds like a good method for warming the jars. Nice and easy, and if I do once again grow cukes and make pickles, I will definitely do this. Thanks!

 

[Branching Out]

First I should state that the pickles I make are strictly refrigerator pickles. In other words I cut up the cucumbers, fill the jars with the pieces, then mix up the brine in a pan on the stove, bring it to a boil, pour it into the filled jars, let them cool, put the lids on, and then store permanently in the fridge. So I've never actually done any canning. (Unless you count blackberry jam that I made long ago sealed with paraffin, but even then I stored them in the refrigerator just to play it safe.) I never had the opportunity to learn canning from someone who knew how, nor the confidence to attempt it on my own.

Way back in the 1970s I once used this recipe to make bread & butter pickles. It is from a 1971 edition of "The Joy of Cooking." I followed this recipe pretty much to the letter, save the couple exceptions penciled in, and skipping the sealing and processing step at the bottom. Also I must have cut this recipe by 2/3rds because I remember I made only two quarts. Interestingly this recipe calls for using "hot sterile jars" so I guess I must have heated them although I can't recall how I did this.

View attachment 60352

I'm afraid my pickling adventures set down here are not likely to be much use to you. Apologies...

SPedigrees,
Thank you so much for sharing your vintage recipe from the Joy of Cooking, and for detailing the process that you have used successfully to make refrigerator pickles. Your photos are beautiful. Learning your method is indeed helpful for me, and reaffirms what I am hearing from others that when it comes to refrigerator pickles it is kind of hard to go wrong. And like you I have a recipe that calls for salting the cukes overnight and then rinsing them; I have been skipping that step, and may have to re-introduce it to my routine.