Pickling

Some of Gayle's mom's pickling recipes that we made on Monday.

Her mom's recipes were short on details. All should be processed in a boiling hot water bath leaving a 1/4-1/2 inch headspace when packing the jars.

Make sure you use new lids and be sure reused rings are clean and free of rust. Jars should be clean and hot when you fill them. (Straight from the dishwasher is great. If you do them by hand, fill them with hot water to reheat them.) Also put the lids and rings in a bowl of hot water to heat them.

Use a jar grabber to remove jars from pot. Place on the table or counter that has been prepared with a layer of newspaper, covered by a kitchen towel.

In a few minutes you should hear them start to "pop".

In 24 hours check your seals. If the lid moves up and down, it's not sealed. Put those in the fridge and eat them!

BASIC BRINE (many of Gayle's moms recipes start with or say to use "Basic Brine.")

3 cups vinegar
3 cups water
1/4 cup salt

Adjust volume depending on quantity that you are canning.


PICKLED BEANS, CARROTS and CAULIFLOWER

2 pounds cauliflower
1-1/2 pounds green beans
2 pounds carrots
1 tsp tumeric
1-1/2 tsp mustard seed
1-1/4 top celery seed

Cook each vegetable separately. Drain. In a pan combine the turmeric, mustard seed, celery seed and basic brine and brine to a boil. Pack veggies in jars and cover with liquid. Seal. Process 15 minutes.

YIELDS 8 pints


PICKLED MUSTARD WAX BEANS  

4 c. vinegar
1 c. water
3 c. sugar
1 c. prepared mustard
6 qts. blanched yellow beans

Cut beans in pieces or to the size of the jar. (Mom always did the size of the jar.) Blanch. Boil brine. Pack beans in hot jars and cover with boiling brine. Clean and seal. Process 10-15 minutes.


BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES (sweet and salty)   

6 large cucumbers, sliced
4 onions, sliced
1/4 cup salt
1 pint white vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed

Use fresh cucumbers; wash and slice. Slice onions. Mix vegetables with salt and let stand 1 hour.

Drain and rinse with 2 cups cold water. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds and heat to boiling. Cook 3 minutes.

Pack vegetables into jars, add hot vinegar mixture, leaving 1/4" headspace. Seal at once and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Store pickles in a cool, dark place. Ready to eat in 3-4 weeks. Keeps for up to 1 year.

Makes about 6 pints.




BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES (savory)

12 medium cucumbers
6 onions (sliced)
2 cups vinegar
2 cups water
2 tsp celery seed
2 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric

Wash cucumbers and slice. Let stand 2 hours in salt solution (1/2 salt to 2 quarts water) Bring rest of ingredients to boil and boil 5 minutes. Add veggies and let heat thoroughly. Jar and seal. Makes 6 pints.