Cucumbers from the garden getting canned today! About 24 cups in this batch. Next week I will can beans! 1/4 t spoon mustard 1/8 t spoon cumin 1/4 t spoon garlic minced 1/2 t spoon dill seeds 1/4 t spoon sea salt
We started out with a store bought pickling spice this year We are making some more this week and are going to get some ingredients to make a homemade blend. Below is what I am going to try. 2 tablespoons black peppercorns 2 tablespoons mustard seeds 2 tablespoons coriander seeds 2 tablespoons dill seed 1 tablespoon allspice berries 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 10 large bay leaves, crumbled
Looks delicious. I can't wait to get a garden set up finally at our "new" house. Now that I'm finally getting caught up on firewood chores (15 cord/yr give or take a few, makes it hard to catch up) I think I'll be prepping a nice garden bed this fall for next year. Wife is doing the stay at home mom thing with our new baby, so she'll have some time to get back into canning, and looks forward to it.
We don't can very much but I didn't want the cucumbers to go to waste this year. Usually we do bush cucumbers but I decided to do regular this year and man did they produce!!! There still going strong so I'll probably be picking more in a few days.
GARLIC DILL REFRIGERATOR PICKLES PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES COOK TIME: 5 MINUTES TOTAL TIME: 15 MINUTES SERVINGS: 2 JARS INGREDIENTS 3 1/2 cups water 3/4 cup white vinegar 1/2 tablespoon coarse salt 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 6 peppercorns 2 lbs mini cucumbers sliced 4 large sprigs fresh dill or to taste 3-5 cloves garlic INSTRUCTIONS Combine water, vinegar, salt, sugar and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool completely. Slice Cucumber into 1/2" rounds. Place cloves of garlic in a glass jar (or jars). Layer dill and cucumbers and pour cooled brine over the cucumbers. Seal and refrigerate at least 3 days before serving. Remember, these are refrigerator pickles. They must be refrigerated and won't keep as long as traditional canned pickles. Not to worry, they get eaten up fast.
These are half sours from yesterday. I'll let them set for a week and then get into them. I'm curious if they will be too soft. 10 minute water bath. The take a long time to cool, so they still cook to some degrees after taking the jars out.
What do you like for a trellis? I was too ambitious last time and made this ten foot tall abomination that was strong enough for a full grown man to climb. It looked pretty goofy sitting there naked after the bloody groundhogs ate the plants. Think I'll tone it down a little this time.
I use some old wire mesh off an industrial shelving unit. Works great! Could basically use hog panels or cattle panels to do the same thing!
I have a 3' fence around my garden I let them climb on. When they get to the top and have nothing else to climb on they tend to go horizontally along the fence.
Pete and Lukem, thanks for the replies. I'm going to use deer fence I think, so I will just do the cukes along one side. I like the idea of letting them run horizontally.
