Thursday Recipe - Quick Dill Pickles

Yep, more pickles. I love neighbors who can grow veggies and make up for my black thumbs. These are super easy to put together and customize, plus you can use those cucumbers that got too big for most pickle recipes. If the seeds are hard and nasty, just quarter the cucumbers and cut out the seeds.

Dill is really easy to grow. It's called a weed for a reason. It makes a really decorative plant. It's lacy and tall and has fun seed heads. Wait until the seed is fully formed before picking and harvesting the seed heads. The lacy leaves can be picked and used fresh or picked and dried anytime.

And as always, a warning about home canning. Make sure you know what you're doing or you could give you family something nasty like botulism. I stick mostly with jams, jellies, and pickles because they have the least chance of spoiling. Make sure your jars and equipment are very clean, sterilize in your dishwasher if you can. Scrub the vegetables really well. Don't try canning with grocery store produce, most of it has been treated with chemicals and things that might affect the end product. Buy good produce from a farmer's market or roadside stand or grow it yourself. It's pretty easy to grow most vegetables, unless you have black thumbs like me.

For more information on home canning, check out the USDA website.

Quick-Pack Dill Pickles

Wash and slice enough cucumbers to fill 8 pint jars. Pack them in tightly.
Add:
1/2 t. dill seed PER JAR
1/2 t. dried dill weed PER JAR
OR one full seed head of dill PER JAR

Mix the following in a large saucepan:
6 T. pickling salt
3 c. vinegar (white 5% acidity)
3 c. water


Bring to a boil. Pour hot liquid over the cucumbers in each jar, filling them to within half inch of the top. Clean the rims of the jars and cover with a new lid. Screw on the ring and tighten.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (for pint jars) at sea level, 20 minutes at my altitude (~5500 ft). Let cool completely. Check the seal, then store in a cool, dark location for at least two weeks before eating.

OR

Store the jars in the fridge for a week, then open and eat. They'll keep for a month or two in the fridge.

Spicy Dill - add 1/4 t. peppercorns and 1/4 t. red pepper flakes to each jar before adding the hot liquid.

Thursday Recipe - Mustard Pickles

My mom used to make these incredible mustard pickles. They weren't crunchy, but they were like spreading chunky mustard goodness on hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, vegetables, roast, just about anything. My family has a thing for mustard. One of my brothers used to make himself mustard sandwiches - a slab of bread overflowing with mustard, nothing else. My mom bought mustard by the gallon and still couldn't keep any on hand. So when my neighbor gifted me a huge bowl of giant cucumbers (I can't grow these either, I have a black thumb of death when it comes to plants - see the zucchini muffin post from last week), my first thought was, I can make mustard pickles out of these! Because that's what my mom did when the cucumbers grew overnight from way to small to enormous. She chopped those puppies up and turned them into mustard pickles that we devoured.

This recipe was easy. I didn't have onions on hand so I substituted a couple of fresh jalapeños and banana peppers. My kids don't mind a kick to their mustard. I now have eight jars of mustard pickles waiting in my basement. I haven't tasted them yet, because pickles need time to develop good flavor. **Update - my kids couldn't wait. They pulled out a jar of these pickles after only two weeks (I write the posts several weeks ahead, so I don't get caught with nothing to post) and they were delicious - crispy, crunchy, slightly spicy, with a very mellow mustard flavor.

(The recipe comes from this old pickle recipe book I found at a used book store a few years ago. They just don't make pickle recipe books like this anymore but you can still buy used copies online.)

Mustard Pickles

6 pounds of cucumbers, sliced (use a scale if you have one, it's about 18 medium to large cucumbers)
1 c. finely diced fresh peppers - jalapeños or banana peppers are great (tip - use gloves when handling spicy peppers) (the recipe called for 1 pound of sliced onions, you choose which you'd rather add)
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. pickling salt (this is uniodized so it won't discolor your pickles)
1/2 t. turmeric
2 T. cornstarch
1 t. ginger
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 c. yellow mustard (the prepared stuff, not mustard powder)
3 c. vinegar (5% acidity, white vinegar in the gallon jug is fine)
1 c. water

Scrub the cucumbers thoroughly before slicing. Remove blossom and stem ends. If they are really fat, you may want to slice them into quarters the long way, then into 1/4" slices. Pile the cucumbers in a bowl and set aside.

Wash eight pint jars. Leave sitting in a sink full of the hottest water you can stand, steaming is a good sign. Or you can use your dishwasher's heated drying cycle. You want the jars hot and you want to keep them hot.

In a very large pot (at least 2 gallons, I use my giant stew pot/past cooker), mix the sugar, salt, turmeric, cornstarch, ginger, and black pepper. Add the mustard, vinegar, water, and hot peppers. Stir until the lumps are mostly gone. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until mixture boils. Add cucumber slices. Have fun trying to stir it. I ended up lifting the cucumbers up from the bottom with a big scooping spoon thing with holes in it. Bring it back to a boil. Remove from heat. Scoop cucumbers into the jars, packing them up to 1/2 inch below the rim. Pour the liquid in the pot into the jars to finish filling the spaces. (I ended up with about 1/4 c. of sauce left over.) Clean the rims of the jars and top with new, clean lids and rings.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes if you're at sea level, 20 minutes if you're at my altitude (~5500 ft). Remove the bottles from the boiling water bath and let them stand on the counter until completely cooled. Check the seals before labeling and storing in a cool, dry, dark place. Let them sit for at least two weeks before devouring. For more information on home canning, please check this site out.

Bonus recipe! Because I really want to try this out sometime. I told you about my mustard addiction, didn't I?

Home-Made Mustard

2 1/2 oz. mustard powder
2 T. sugar
2 t. salt
4 T. vinegar
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. olive oil
dash tabasco sauce

Mix mustard powder, sugar, and salt. Add remaining ingredients. Blend well. Store covered in the refrigerator.