WHEN THE HONEY HOLE GIVES YOU CUCUMBERS YOU MAKE PICKLES

Cucumber patch that is now triple this size

Fresh Dill

 

I have tried many homemade dill, sweet, and bread and butter pickles in my life but none have ever matched up to the recipe that I use for my DILL PICKLES. 

  It is so easy to do because one has the choice of using it as refrigerator pickles or as water bathed if you want to keep them even longer.  Today I canned 4 quarts which makes my 3rd time pickling this season and I have made 12 quarts and several pints with some banana peppers pickled with the excess brine.  Here is my recipe for...

Kosher Packed Pickles

2 quarts water
1 quart vinegar
1/4 cup canning salt                          
1 tsp. alum
4 sprigs fresh dill to each quart
1-2 cloves garlic sliced to each quart
1 jalapeno pepper to each quart (less if you don't like a little heat)

Bring vinegar, water, and salt to a boil.  Turn off heat and add alum, 

stir and begin pouring the brine over your pickles packed in jars.  

To pack jars:  Wash and dry the jars and add pepper, garlic, 

and dill to bottom of jar. Begin packing pickles in jars so that 

each jar is full, tightly packed.  *I choose my cucumbers that 

are smaller and the ones that are bigger I will cut in half or into 

fourths for spears.  I don't leave them whole unless they are less 

than three inches long.

If one is going to can them, follow the guidelines of water bathing

which is generally 15 min. water bath for quarts.  Just takes enough 

time so that the seal is good on the jars since they contain so

much acid and salt.  However one wants to eat them right away 

let them cool in the sealed jars, pop them in the fridge and wait, and 

wait, and wait.  No seriously, just wait three days and then enjoy them.  

Once the jar is open and stored in fridge one can eat off of them for 

several months but they won't last that long if one loves pickles.  

You will love these.  

Ready to Eat

  

ONIONS

ONIONS ONIONS & MORE ONIONS

 This year on April 6 2013 the onions were planted with hopes of a bumper crop.  Well that is exactly what was harvested.  A bumper crop.  180 onions to be exact, nearly half red and half white. 

I have been told that one should, "Never let a July rain fall on the onion crop."  For gardeners that means get them out sometime in late June so they do not rot.  This year when the last day of June ended it began raining therefore a July rain fell on the onion crop.  It rained for two days and were finally able to be pulled on the 5th of July. 

Now that's a wagon of Onions

With high hopes of braiding onions this year they were laid out on a table to cure for a few days however after some research I realized that time was not on my side.  The weather here has been humid with pop-up showers every other day and my onions were not going to wait to be braided.  I managed to cure them before the rains hit again and then cut the tops off of them leaving about 3 to 4 inches on the tops.  They need to dry again for a few days after the removal of the tops and I was able to fit all 180 in my wagon to dry the rest of the way.  After another threat of rain I decided that I better get them in their bags and hanging.  I was able to get about 20 in each of my drying bags that I use to store them for winter.  I hang them in the utility room in my house for the winter and they will generally last till January or February. 

Curing for another 5 days after removing the tops