I awoke with a craving for pickles. Went out and bought an eleven dollar jar of the fanciest, bulk pickles I could find. So good! So expensive. At least they are low cal.
Time to start making my own.
Im considering doing the same with a friend. We both love high quality moonshine but don't wanna pay over $100 a gallon. So were talking about starting our own distillery. If we go broke, we don't have that far of a drop to go...if we get that Google kind of money out of it then we are super lucky and will be rolling like rednecks with the best toys on the market lol.
fresh pickles are the best .I use to make my own. Dill pickles are extremely easy to make , The sweet ones a little more labor intensive.
Canning is not only fairly easy, but can help stretch the budget. Huge outlay at first, but most every thing is reusable.
Quote from: Ms. OBrien CVT on November 29, 2013, 10:46:25 AM
Canning is not only fairly easy, but can help stretch the budget. Huge outlay at first, but most every thing is reusable.
That's right. I started canning 25 years ago. I still have and use the original canning equipment. One of them, a strainer with a crank handle, I used the pumpkin screen for the first time making pumpkin puree for a couple of pumpkin cheesecake for yesterday's Thanksgiving feast. I made a lot of tomato sauce and juice and juiced grapes for jellies with that strainer over the years. A lot of cucumber, pepper and tomato pickles from my garden were canned. Sweet and dill cucumber and corn relishes were done as well. A lot from my garden was processed this year. I got quite a larder in the basement this year. A large pile of pumpkins still on the floor in the dining room. The seeds from the pumpkins are good as snacks after you bake them.
The only things you need replacement each year are the jar lids. You do not reuse them. The screw bands when they rust or are damaged. You may have to replace the glass jars due to damage or the relatives did not return them. Do not use the jars if they were used as drink tumblers. The stirring of the spoons in those jars cause small pits that causers breakage in the canner. A good steel water bath canner with the enamel finish doubles as a large stockpot. A pressure canner doubles as a pressure cooker for those tough roasts. A gas cooktop or the electric coil cooktop should be used with the canners. A glass smoothtop may break. Check the manufacturer on such ranges.
The pickles are easy. Once you get the hang of canning those, it takes less than 1 hour per batch to process them using pickling mixes such as
Mrs. Wages mixes available in some grocers where they have the canning supplies. There are the old fashioned methods of pickling the cucumbers in brine for a week or so, but I use the available mixes for the 'cukes. My pickles are in high demand. The pepper and tomato pickles are processed in a brine/vinegar with spices in the jar and they are ready in 2 months, in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The cucumbers from the pickle mixes are ready overnight. My sweet cherry peppers with a jalapeno added for a little kick is a big hit with my relatives.
Joelene
And they are an excellent source of nutrients and antioxidants that can help us deal with the diuretic effects spiro.
Exactly, Tessa!
That is why I put this thread in this forum. Spiro REALLY dries me out. I am finding it quite difficult to stay properly hydrated. I live in the Sub Tropics and it can be quite warm/hot, even in the Winter.
Some pickles or Gatoraid seem to help me absorb the water I do drink. I would rather have the pickles. I am also a huge fan of sauerkraut. Always have been. So, time to start working on lacto fermentation (salt brine) as well as vinegar brine.
All I know is I devoured 14 pickles yesterday as well as a full thanksgiving dinner.
The pickle craving is real. I thought it was funny when I first read about it. Now I believe it 100%.
Bought red and green cabbage for kraut. May add some apple and onion.
Japanese and regular cucumbers for pickles. Dill... A bay leaf. Peppercorns... Some jalapeños for spice. Garlic clove.
Hawaiian sea salt for fermentation.
At least 3 days before REAL results can be posted. I may post before then. This is fun.
Mmmph.. it's green olives for me. Sooo good. I mean, I liked them before, but now? :icon_dribble:
I made dill pickles a year or two ago :) It was great fun and the store mgr. gave me a super deal on one of these Ball canning kits because they had overstocked and were trying to get rid of them
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DH.4641018319013906%26amp%3Bpid%3D15.1&hash=e1a5528540c42be857ec3c770462afd421d0d5eb)
I got nice compliments from folks I gave jars of pickles to and still have plenty of pickles :)
Om nom nom nom!
;D
Pickles! OMG!!! So good!
2 jars with cucumber and a bit of garlic, jalepeno, pepper, bay leaves, pickling spice and of course, dill. Be sure to use the right amount of salt (non-iodized, use sea, kosher or pickeling salt) and mix with water, this is your brine, roughly 2 tablespoons per pint. Cover the ingredients with brine. Plenty of videos and recipes online. Go from there.
One other jar war done the same but with added fresh habenero... well the seed pod... I ate most of the flesh. I like extreme spice from time to time.
Lemme tells y'all, these things are sour, spicy, garlicky, fresh and full of beneficial lacto bacteria (also crucial for yogurt and most cheese) and other live pro-biotics.
Just one week. They are edible at 3-4 days (half sour), 1 week (full sour), and can continue fermentation for up to 4-5 weeks (super sour). I like 'em sour. Super sour frightens me, but I may keep them fermenting for another week, although they are plenty sour now.
To stop/slow fermentation, remove from room temp and put in the refrigerator.
Use pickle sized cucumbers, or even the long, thin Japanese cucumbers. I found regular, large cucumbers just turned to mush. :(
SAUERKRAUT!!!
So easy. Salt and cabbage. Ferments much faster than pickles in small jars. I could fit two medium heads in a quart jar after chopping and salting. The salt released the cabbage's own water creating its own brine.
Really!
Watch a video or two and get started. This stuff makes itself.
It cures my cravings and gives me nutrients to help hydrate more efficiently.
Oh, and my pickled mangos are the bomb. It is nice living in the tropics sometimes.
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