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| I really packed them in. Tight fit in two old pasta sauce jars. |
My daughter and I discovered more cucumbers on another reaching planter. Two big and a small were the right amount for my MIL's refrigerator pickles. I laugh at her recipe as it's "as is" but then has notes on how she changed. Below is how I made them. It's endearing to read "2 Cups sugar- but I use less" but doesn't say what she used. Then there's "1Cup Diced celery, 1 Cup diced green pepper, but I don't use either because (FIL) didn't like them in the pickles". That's what makes passed down recipes the best.
Some of you might remember I had asked for years, decades probably, for her recipe. Out of the blue two years ago she had a copy written up on a recipe card for me. It was a few months after we had had a bit of a fall out over a few things that happened/ she said to me preparing for my nieces baby shower. I sometimes wonder if the recipe was her apology, an act of attrition. It's probably just a recipe, lol.
As these cukes were a surprise, my daughter noticed that more might be coming. A bumper crop. Refrigerator pickles keep about 5-6 weeks according to most recipes. That won't get us to the holidays and I don't know how to pressure can- it scares me. I found a couple recipes for freezer pickles. We may give them a try.
Here's my MIL's actual refrigerator pickles recipe, the version I made minus the celery and peppers. Delicious!
- 8 cups thinly sliced cucumbers, toss with 1 1/2 tsp salt. Let sit one hour.
- Rinse, then let drain, several hours or overnight. Stir in 1 C diced onion.
Heat just to sugar melting,
- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 1 C white vinegar
- 1tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp celery seeds
They look great Sam! I make a lot of dill pickles and bread and butter pickles. You don't have to pressure can pickles. A boiling water bath for 15 minutes does the trick.
ReplyDeleteReally! That amazes me. I wouldn't think they'd get hit enough. I might be brave and try.
DeleteSounds delicious Sam. We've only ever done pickled onions. Arilx
ReplyDeleteI've never done pickled onions but the onions in the brine are tasty.
DeleteOh I just love your MIL's recipe (not that I like pickles at all) - I just love the annotations!
ReplyDeleteIt's so much more special with her notes.
DeleteI was terrified of pressure canners, too. A girl just out of hs helped me get over it. There is nothing scary once I did it! But, the fear is real.
ReplyDeleteNope, still not going to do it. That's great young people learn the skills.
DeleteYou know as much canning as I have done over my life time, pressure canning still bothers me. So I make hubs do it and we do it outside on a camp stove.
ReplyDeleteI've never had much to can but jam and tomatoes/ tomato recipes. I think I'd still be scared outside.
DeleteSounds good. I usually have a jar of bread and butter pickles in the fridge and during cucumber season, or at the grocery store, I get a cucumber and slice it up and stick it in the juice when I run out of the ones in the jar. Usually, they taste goood in a day or two after soaking in the juice.!I am pitiful in the kitchen…. Lol Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteSluggy gave me that tip last year. There's something about these from someone's homegrown Cucumbers that seems like a transition from summer to fall.
DeleteI learned something from this post! I've heard and used the term "act of contrition," but never "act of attrition." I have only used the term attrition in reference to slowly reducing something--as in a college graduating class losing students due to transfers/withdrawals. As it turns out, in Christian theology, attrition, is sorrow, but not contrition for a sin. (I know precious little of Christian theology, having been raised in, and returning to good old fashioned secular humanism.)
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I probably just used the wrong word. Call me Ms malaprop. I guess she could have sorrow over not giving me the recipe sooner.
DeleteSAM,
ReplyDeleteI think I know why a pressure cooker terrified me for years. I listened to my mother's older relatives/great aunts talk about pressure cookers exploding and read those tales. However, I did not know that an exploding pressure cooker is not possible now since the lids are locked down. Still, even after using a pressure cooker for years, I am sure my blood pressure goes up because my anxiety rises.
That's probably where my fears come from too.
DeleteIt's not that the lids are locked down, but rather they have a rubber safety valve that pops off if the pressure gets to high. (I am referring to a pressure cooker/canner NOT an Instantpot. I don't know how those work, and have no desire to learn, either. I have a slow cooker, I have a pressure cooker. I don't need an Instantpot....I DO know that the USDA warns against trying to can in an Instantpot.)
DeleteI passed my Instapot given four years ago to us by my MIL to my daughter. I didn't see a great use for it. I know the difference between the Instapot and a pressure canner, and at my age, I'm not rushing to use either.
DeleteIf you can boil water and read a gauge, you can pressure can in a pressure canner. It also serves as a boiling water bath canner. I got mine years ago because I had a plethora of apples to turn into applesauce in quart jars. Anything I can in quart jars I pressure can, because it's quicker. Why? Because you only need 2 quarts of water to pressure can, vs. enough water to cover the tops of quart jars PLUS another 2 inches in a boiling water bath. Was I a bit apprehensive the first time I used it? Oh, yeah. But by my second batch of applesauce, I was a pro! Shortly before we moved, I taught a friend of mine how to use a pressure canner--and she's older than we are. We made salsa (which doesn't need to be pressure canned for food safety because the tomatoes are acidified by the addition of vinegar, but the point was to teach her how to use the pressure canner,) and she was amazed at how easy it was. Fun fact: Unless you are certain of the variety of tomato you have, unless you are using a recipe which acidifies the tomatoes, you should pressure can, as some varieties are considered low acid by the USDA. So, apples are more acidic than some varieties of tomatoes! I'm not going to do much, if any canning this fall--no garden, and my pantry is full of jam from years gone by.
DeleteI'm sure I could learn. I guess I'm saying, I don't care to at this point in my life. All my versions have vinegar added so I think I'm good on the hot water bath.
DeleteMy husband and I just discovered "bread and butter" pickles at our local farmer's market this summer - I'll have to look into making them ourselves next year.
ReplyDeleteHer recipe says thin sliced but I also think a thicker slice would work too. I could get fancy with the ridge slicer.
DeleteThat is sweet that she gave you the recipe as an “apology”. It looks like a good one. Your jars of them look beautiful. :)
ReplyDeleteI think likely coincidence, but nice to know I'm finally family. She knew I liked going to farmers markets.
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