Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Ridgetop]

Recipe for Summer Pickles
These are a bread and butter type pickle made with zucchini and yellow crookneck squash, red bell peppers and onions.

2 medium onions sliced thin
2 sweet red bell peppers sliced thin strips
1 quart zucchini squash sliced about 1/4" thick
1 quart crookneck squash sliced about 1/4" thick

Toss vegetables all together in large bowl, sprinkle with 1/4 cup pickling salt, cover with ice water for 2 hours. Drain well - do not rinse.

Syrup
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
4 cups white sugar
1 tsp. turmeric
2 tsps. celery seed
1 1/2 tsp. mustard seed
2 tsps. powdered alum
1 cinnamon stick, broken

In a large kettle, bring syrup ingredients to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes. Add drained squash, onions, and peppers. Bring pickles to a full boil and IMMEDIATELY remove from heat. Put in clean hot jars leaving 1/2" headspace.

Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

This recipe will make 4 pints. I usually put it in the taller 12 ounce jars which will make 7 of these jars. I like them in the taller jars so you can see the colors. This is a pretty pickle for gifts too.

 

[Mike CHS]

I'll have to give that one a try.

 

[Baymule]

@Ridgetop you are on a roll! This is the 3rd posting of that recipe I have come across! These have GOT to be good! Hahaha!

 

[Mike CHS]

We got the last of our vegetable plants in the ground today but still had enough left for a neighbor to start their garden. We are getting enough pickling cucumbers out of the garden that we may pull out the pickling cucumber plants soon. We only need a couple more jars of canned sliced pickles and we will be good for this season. Even though there are only two of us we always plan on putting up two for each month and we use the majority of them.

We do a little weeding often so we never have to spend large amounts of time so this might be a good time to put a plug in of the manufactures of the hoes we use. They are called Hook 'n Crook and are not on the cheap side but we have been using the two we have for almost 10 years. I think the name of the company is Holdredge Enterprises.

Teresa rarely goes out with me to check on the sheep's water when they are far away but she went with me this morning. She was telling me that she often forgets the reason I am always smiling but the sheep and dogs reminded her.

 

[Ridgetop]

@Ridgetop you are on a roll! This is the 3rd posting of that recipe I have come across! These have GOT to be good! Hahaha!

Posted it everywhere because I am never sure where I am or where it will end up. LOL

 

[Mike CHS]

Teresa put up another 4 quarts of pickles this morning. She has a routine now that she can do a batch like that in about 45 minutes all together.

 

[Baymule]

Haha Teresa is a Pickling Professional!

 

[Mike CHS]

Haha Teresa is a Pickling Professional!

Yes but what we do isn't USDA approved. )

 

[Baymule]

Our chicken butchering outside under a shady oak tree, processing, cutting and vacuum sealing in the kitchen isn’t exactly USDA approved either. LOL

 

[Ridgetop]

Home butchering and canning is Family Approved when they eat it! Just can't sell it anymore - no more homemade stuff available at fairs or boutiques.

I haven't made pickles in a long time. Or canned much in a long time other than jam and jelly. Not enough family to eat it much. Pickles used to be eaten in winter to prevent scurvy. The vinegar has acetic acid in it similar to the vitamin C in citrus fruit. That is why Dutch merchant ships used to carry big barrels of Sauerkraut on long voyages - it kept the sailors from developing scurvy.