Sunday, September 9, 2007

When Life Gives You Cucumbers - Make . . . Pickles!

Another volunteer-plant discovery in my raised beds! Pickling-sized cucumbers.

Turns out, I only like cucumbers when they are soaked in brine, sweet and heavily spiced. I have never made pickles before - so I tested out a recipe I had for Refrigerator Super Sweet Pickles. No waiting for weeks. No boiling water. No canning skills necessary. It's all good, as my friend Suz would say.

I added a little salt, extra dill and some garlic powder.

Pickling always seemed to be something that I would never be able to do. This type of recipe made me feel capable and thrifty. Like a true provider. Who may be the one to someday stock our shelves for a long winter. Taking care of me and mine.

*Note* If you are container gardening - you can easily grow pickling-sized cucumbers. Just make sure to have a trellis or railing they can crawl up. Something to think about for next season.

3 comments:

Steph said...

Were they yummy?
Canning scares me, but this sounds easy.
Barbara Kingsolver has me thinking about more vegetables for next year. And thinking about preserving some for the winter.

Unknown said...

My husband would FLIP OUT if I made him these! He loves them!

Tracey said...

They are yummy. Took a little tweaking - with the spices and sugar. So, by today, they are tasting the way I hoped.

Make sure to really drain the vinegar after soaking the cukes for those 24 hours. I wasn't that good about it - and the vinegar was a little strong (for my taste!).