fermented pickles

 Wonderfully, I have a cucumber producing wonderfully this year, and the cucumbers are very tasty and good all-around.  I like to pick them small for good flavor, and they probably dont' taste great if large.  They are called mini-me, after all.

I'm frankly kind of overwhelmed by cucumbers, so ... I'll ferment them!   I did a batch and I really liked it, gave away most, and so I'm making another jar now.  

Here's what I'm doing:

Get: 

• a quart jar (I use wide mouth because I have lids that fit) 
• a smaller jar to mix up brine at ratio of 3 T: 4 cups
• non-chlorinated water (I filter it; can also leave out at room temperature about 24 hours to evaporate the chlorine ... probably; there are some treatment facilities that chlorinate differently and it doesn't evaporate out) 
• cucumbers!
• grape leaves
• seasonings: this time I used 1/2 tsp dill seed, 1/2 tsp peppercorns, 2 cloves garlic, dash of red chili flakes, 1/4 tsp mustard seeds.  (Last time I used a pickling spice mix and I think it has something I don't much like, maybe allspice)

 Steps:

• clean freshly-picked cucumbers and grape leaves with filtered water
• crush garlic cloves but keep skin on 
• put grape leaf on bottom of jar and a clove of garlic
• start to pack the pickles in and when about halfway, add the rest of the spices
• fill the jar, then pour brine on top, leaving at least 1/2"
• put a grape leave on top to help keep everything underneath
• I put a fermentation lid on that off gasses because a friend gave it to me but I used to just use regular lids and open slighly each day for gases to disperse
• if the cucumbers pop up above liquid, you need to get them to stay down.  I usually plan the cucumbers accordingly, pushing one in to hold things down, but you can also use a weight or a clean rock on the grape leave 

Put it in a darkish place, preferably 70-75 degrees ish.  And put it on a plate because it will overflow.  Start checking at 3 days for readiness, though others go longer.  I look at color and cloudiness of brine and usually start tasting around then.  Last batch I had one jar for 3 days and the other for 5.  I may go a little longer this time.  

Then they'll keep in the fridge for months, if you don't eat and give them all away before then.   

 

dill relish (for canning)

One of my favorite farms has pickling cucumbers ready, so I rushed out to pick some up and actually ended up with a very good deal.*  I eat dill relish especially with tuna, and what I can find in the store has a lot of additives.  So why not make my own?  I can control quality better and it's local (the garlic is from my yard).  

Recipe from here. I doubled the recipe because I ended up with 5 pounds of cucumbers and it looks like it'll fit into my stockpot (I'll probably have to do two canning loads though since I have such a little canner).  (Note:  actually it filled the canner with odd various jars from pickles and such, and then there was about a pint and a half left over that I will just put into the fridge to eat first)

Ingredients 

5 lbs cucumbers (weighed prior to peeling and seeding),peeled, center row of seeds removed, and finely diced

2 large yellow onion, finely diced

2 small red bell pepper, finely diced

2 small green bell pepper, finely diced (I used anaheims as I don't really care for green bell peppers)

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

0.5 cup kosher or pickling salt (neither of these have additives which is important to avoid when canning)

6 cups white vinegar

1 cup sugar (optional or use less according to taste) - I put in 1 T for this double batch

4 teaspoons dill seeds

2 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds (note: don't use heaping spoons as it's already a lot)

4 teaspoons celery seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

4 bay leaves

 Instructions

• Place the diced cucumbers, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Combine with the salt and pour water over the mixture until covered. Let sit for at least 6 hours or overnight (I did not refrigerate). Drain the cucumber mixture in a fine mesh strainer, rinse thoroughly with water, and drain again.
• In a large stock pot, add the sugar, vinegar, and spices and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the drained cucumber mixture and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.
• Ladle the hot relish into hot sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and seal tightly with the lids.

  Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
• Sealed jars will store in a cool, dark place for a year. If the seal is broken, the relish will keep in the fridge for at least a month. Makes 4 pints (you can use pint-sized or half pint jars).  

  Best eaten at least a week later after the flavors have had time to meld and the vinegar mellows out a bit. In addition, the relish needs to sit to give it time to absorb some of the liquid and to thicken.

 

*(This farm is run just like the farm that used to exist down the road, where I worked after college for several months until I figured out what to do with my college degree with honors.  Just kidding, I just went to other low-pay no-education-required job for years.  I finally became a teacher when I was about 30 years old, which at least requires my college education.  At the time of working at the farm, I had no idea why people would get so excited for these massive bags of pickling cucumbers, often little old ladies.  And now here I am, rushing to get them.)

pickled jalapenos

 A neighbor gave me a bunch of jalapenos earlier this year, with which I made "cowboy candy."  I did not care for that at all, and I'll reserve them for being chopped into cornbread in the future.  So when my plant started producing heavily, I decided to go the more traditional pickled jalapenos route, and I'm very glad I did because these are great.

• jalapenos (I had about 3/4#)
• garlic cloves (about 2, sliced) 
• bay leaves, peppercorns
• water & white vinegar in equal amounts (I did about 1.5 cups of each)
• salt and sugar (about 1 T each)

Sterilize jars in water bath, heat lids.

Slice jalapenos and garlic.

Heat water, vinegar, salt, and sugar.  Bring to simmer.

Pack peppers and garlic into hot jars, add a bay leaf and peppercorns to each jar, pour brine over. 

PRocess water bath for 10 minutes. 

pickled carrots

 I took the recipe from pickled carrots from here (adding bay leaf) and here but I think I should be able to figure it out in the future without dirtying every bowl and pan in my house.  I cleared my garden beds to move them to the backyard - they were always just intended to be temporary (I reused old fence boards with planter blocks) and they look awful in the front yard.  Now that my driveway is finally fixed I can fix the landscaping in the area so to the back these go, where I don't care if they look bad because they produce nourishment.  If I can get them set up next weekend in backyard I'll plant anther run of beets, daikon, and carrots, but mostly I'm getting these deeper beds prepped for sweet potatoes. Anyway, I had about 4# of carrots so I made a batch of pickled carrots with about 2.75# (the amounts worked out well - I did three pint jars and two random small pickle jars) and the rest of the carrots (and daikon) will go into sauerkraut I'll make next weekend with cabbage from the garden.

Ingredients

    ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
    2 cups white wine vinegar
    2 cups water
    2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
    2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano (or dried oregano)
    ½ teaspoon black peppercorns, lightly crushed
    1 small red onion, peeled and cut into ⅛-inch slices
    2 to 4 jalapeño chiles, quartered (seeded for less heat)
    2¾ pounds carrots, peeled and cut on a bias ½ inch thick
    8 garlic cloves, peeled

    bay leaf (1 per jar)
    4 small dried red chiles (optional)

Directions

   Sterilize jars. In a large, deep pot, add 4 pint jars and their lids. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Use tongs to remove the pint jars and lids from the hot water. Turn the jars upside down onto a kitchen towel to drain.

   Toast cumin seeds.  In a small skillet set over medium-high heat, add the cumin seeds and toast, stirring often, until the seeds are golden and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a small plate to cool.

 Make liquid. To a medium saucepan, add the vinegar, water, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of the salt, the oregano and crushed peppercorns and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the onion and jalapeños and turn off the heat. - NOTE: since I water bath these and it was kind of a mess and difficult to distribute the spices, next time I'll just add oregano and peppercorns to the jars directly.

 Cook carrots. Bring a large saucepan of water and the remaining 1 tablespoon of salt to a boil. Add the carrots and simmer until al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain the carrots in a colander and immediately transfer them to the saucepan with the vinegar and onions. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then turn off the heat.
 

Jar it up. Divide the toasted cumin seeds, bay leaves, garlic cloves, and red chiles (if using) among the 4 jars. Using a slotted spoon, divide the carrots and onions among the jars. Top with the hot vinegar, leaving ½ inch of headspace at the top of the jar. Fasten the tops onto the jars and refrigerate for up to 1 month. 

 Water bath carrots. For longer storage, hot-water-process the pickles: Transfer the jars back to a pot of water, making sure the lids are tightly secured and that the jars are covered by at least a few inches of water, and boil for 10 minutes. Use tongs to transfer the jars to a kitchen-towel-lined surface and cool completely at room temperature. Store in a cool, dry, dark space.