Sometimes it feels like a mad rush, with Andy and I up til way past our bedtime-teaming up washing and filling the jars, loading and unloading the canner. But then when late fall arrives and the garden is put to bed and we are still crunching on pickles, making soups full of summer's vegetables and drinking juices we canned ourselves, every minute spent feels like rich satisfaction.
Last week I shoved another jar of refrigerator pickles into the back of the fridge. I've canned dill pickles before but just can't seem to perfect my recipe to get them totally crisp (which is how I guess I need them). So this year I did a bit of research and decided to skip the canning process (heating the pickles inevitably softens them a bit) and opted for stuffing the back of my fridge with quarts of refrigerator dill pickles. It's totally worth the room they take up back there (we've already eaten our way through almost two quarts and the cucumbers haven't even quit coming). This recipe is rocking our world (I can't remember where I found it and I've adapted it a bit to our taste). We can't get enough. If you still have picklers around, do give it a try!
Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles
(Makes approximately 4 quarts)
4 overflowing quarts of pickling cucumbers (sliced if bigger, but I think the little baby ones stay the crispiest).
4 cups apple cider vinegar (yum, apple cider vinegar is so much better for you than white vinegar and adds some extra flavor)
4 cups water
5 tablespoons pickling salt
16 big, fat cloves garlic, peeled (4 per quart jar or more if you like!)
4 jalapenos (1 per quart jar) Optional if you don't like the little kick. We made some with and some without. Andy and I like the jalapeno dills, the girls prefer the plain.
8 heads of fresh dill that have just finished flowering but haven't set seed (2 per quart jar, or more!)
4 teaspoons black peppercorns (1 teaspoon per quart) Again optional.
Prepare you jars by taking precautions in the usual way (washing and sterilizing).
Wash and slice (if needed) the cucumbers.
Add spices (garlic, dill, black pepper and jalepeno) to each jar. Then pack the cucumbers firmly into the jars. Don't cram them so hard you damage them, but squeeze them in tight.
Make the brine by combining the cider vinegar, water and salt in a large sauce pot. Bring to a simmer. As soon as the brine simmers, pour it into the pickle jars leaving about a 1/2 head space. (Don't simmer the brine too long or evaporation will change your ratios making it too vinegary and salty).
Wipe the rims with a clean towel and apply your lids and rings. Let the jars cool to room temp and find a place for them in the fridge.
We tried them the next day and they were already really yummy. Flavors are becoming stronger all the time. These should keep for at least a year.
The pickles weren't in the fridge long before my mom called and said that a row of her table grapes were ready for picking. Our girls love homemade grape juice and our supply was running low so we couldn't resist. Andy and Elsa picked about 60 pounds of grapes, which we turned into about 35 quarts of juice. "Juicing" the grapes is an easy process (we learned from our friend Jen). The most time consuming part is de-steming the grapes (or eating until your belly is bursting if you are Elsa Mae). Once de-stemed, the grapes are washed and then stuffed into clean jars. We then fill the jars with boiling water and throw them in the canner for 30 minutes. That's it. When we take them out to drink, we pour the juice through a mesh strainer into a pitcher. Then we smash the grapes with a wooden spoon in the mesh stainer to get the last of the juice out. The juice is always concentrated so we add water and a sweetener of choice (we like agave) to taste. Yum.
This week it looks like the corn is on and we'll spend a few late nights cooking and shaving the kernels off the ears for freezing. Anyone have any great recipes for winter dishes that use corn? We always seem to freeze a bit more than we can use, maybe some new recipes will help!
Wishing you a week full of bounty.
1 comment:
Hey Jonel.
It's funny you mention grapes and pickles that are too soft in the same post... Someone told me a few years ago that stuffing a few grape leaves in the jars with the spices and brine before canning is the trick to keeping them crunchy. It definitely works for me. That along with pickling the cucs within 24 hours of picking (I assume you are doing that, but it took me a couple of years to figure that piece out too). Same day is best. Of course they aren't as crunchy crisp as refrigerator pickles but they should come close.
As to winter corn recipes - winter squash and corn enchiladas are my favorite. Sometimes I put in sweet peppers too (rehydrated, canned or frozen in oil). I make corn crackers ("live/raw" style) now too so I hardly have any to save for winter but I'll get some in the freezer this week for sure. :-)
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