Gardening Intervention

[baymule]

I put out onion sets in the fall to use all winter as green onions. I bought 2 more bundles and set them out this spring and they are starting to make little bulbs. Maybe.........

What @Ridgerunner said about the bolting onions.

 

[hosspak]

From the Crazy H-Bar Ranch: Not so much in the garden, but what came out of the garden.
Wow, what a chore. But we love it... The Bread and Butter pickles are done and canned.

Step 1) Gather fresh vegetables from the garden. We had to get a few extra pickling and reg cucumbers from the store because....well more is always better!



Step 2) After slicing all the cukes about 1/4 inch thick, soak them in water and canning salt and toss them in the frig overnight. In the morning, take them out and rinse them very well to get all that salt out.



Step 3) Start boiling lots of water... For 2 reasons, one to sanitize your jars and to process the filled pickle jars. This is when the kitchen starts to warm up.



And don't forget to boil the lids and rings...



Step 4) Start your pickle brine. Add all the good junk to the ACV and sugar. We cut back on the sugar because they really come out pretty sweet and sometimes it will overpower all the other spices and seasoning that gets put in there. At this point your kitchen should start smelling incredible.



Step 5) Tammy, got a new toy from Pampered Chef that makes stuff into shoe strings so she tore it up in the kitchen.



Step 6) Now that all ingredients are ready, the kitchen temp hits somewhere in the 80's, and the humidity is the same. It's time to get busy...



Step 7) This recipe calls for boiling the veggies in the brine but I only toss them in for a couple minutes so the pickles will still be a little crunchy. I want to try it w/o boiling them but I'm afraid they will be to raw. I forgot to mention, Do a quick taste test of the brine before dropping in the pickles so you can adjust the taste if needed.



Step 8) Start ladling all that good stuff into the heated jars. Oh, I forgot to mention, at this point the whole house smells of pickle brine and some pickle slices may start disappearing before they make it into the jars. Anyway, you want to leave 1/2 head space in the jars but make sure you pack as many pickles in there as you can.



Step 9) Once the jars are filled, wipe off the jar rims to clean everything off, because anything left on there will keep the jars from sealing and will allow bacteria into the jars and spoil all your hard work. Now drop the jars back into the boiling water for a 10 minute process. Make sure you have at least 1 inch of water covering the tops of the jars..... I don't know why either... Just do it! lol



Step 10) Remove the jars from the boiler and allow to cool down. DON"T touch them, I know you will be tempted to pick them up and look at the miracle that you created, but fight it.... First they are really really hot, second because they still need to cool down and get a good seal. At this point, make sure things are quiet, because the jars will actually tell you when they are done... Ping, Ping, and more Pinging. When you hear the pings, they are done and properly sealed. If there are any lid buttons that remain up, don't worry you still have 2 options: you can process it back into the boiling water to see if it will seal or just but the jar into the frig, these are still perfect pickles and you will want to eat them first, they will still last for 3 or 4 months in the frig. Oh yeah, there be habaneros in some of those jars.





We were able to can 20 jars of B&B pickles and this is what's left of the brine... But don't throw it away, if you get a few more pickles and cucumbers from the garden you can still slice them and soak them overnight, then reheat the brine and add that to the slices and back into the frig. Now here's the down side... If you can hold out for as long as possible to open these up. The longer you wait the better they will taste, We TRY to wait at least 3 weeks.... It ain't easy!





Lastly, gather up all your little minions so they can clean up the mess you made.... well because you have done good work here and deserve a break...

 

[baymule]

Great pickle picture-rama! But why does that pile of dirty bowls and other various stuff always show up?

 

[hosspak]

Great pickle picture-rama! But why does that pile of dirty bowls and other various stuff always show up?

Gremlins.............

 

[so lucky]

I love that ping that tells you the jar is sealed. It's like a pat on the back; job well done.

 

[digitS']

Is there a double "like?"

Great! How about that?

I like pickles, Hosspak, but don't eat enuf of them to warrant canning. Besides, when I have tried simple, refrigerator pickle recipes - the product was disappointing! I admire those of us who can just make these sorts of things "happen."

Cucumbers? There will come a time this summer when I will have one about midday on a regular basis. Usually in the pickup while I'm driving and trying to stay cool. At home, I will splash ACV on the slices and sprinkle some Mrs Dash! Sliced beefsteak tomatoes on the other side of the plate and fresh hot corn on the cob on its way! An awfully wonderful part of summer!

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Okay, @hosspak, so I posted a "LIKE" for everything except the taste. Sigh! When do I get a taste and finish my like-a-thon?

 

[hosspak]

There is an empty chair on my porch waiting for you... I'll leave the light on for ya...

 

[hosspak]

From the Crazy H-Bar Ranch: How to store fresh produce – From A to Zucchini. - See more at: http://www.thevspotblog.com/2012/01/how-to-store-fresh-produce-from-to.html#sthash.nmZigphl.dpuf

 

[hosspak]

Rants from the Crazy H-Bar Ranch:
So, I just finished off the first opened jar of B&B pickles. I can honestly say...they were amazing. Although not as crisp as I had hoped, even though we used pickle crisp, but we did cook them in the brine briefly before canning. I can't wait to taste the frig version of our B&B pickles (pickles, cukes, and yellow squash) all from the garden. Those went straight into the cooked brine with some pickle crisp. Fingers crossed. Now, I'm working on the dill's we canned last week. Whoa.... these are kinda spicy... and these aren't the ones with the habaneros in em. I'm thinking of saving the B&B brine leftovers to pickle the rapidly ripening pepperchinis... what do ya think? Our romas and aromas are starting to redden up... I see many jars of sauce in our future. Question, those that have minor BER, can the bad areas be cut of and used for the sauce? There are a few with BER but there are many w/o it. If I cut it off will they keep for a couple of days in the frig? Or how can I keep them till I have enough toms for the canning. This week we bought a bag of pickle relish spice at Wally World and canned a huge batch of B&B relish using pickles, cukes and zukes from the garden. The boys say that it tastes great...we'll see. We still many pickles ripening this week.... huummmmm, are there any more recipes out there?