I have to admit that out of all the homesteady stuff I try and like to do, I am daunted by canning. I am convinced that I will accidentally give the entire family botulism or something.
However, last year I made refrigerator pickles that were a huge hit, particularly with TWS. I like to do things that make him happy--he's a good guy :). This year we had a ton of Bootheby's Blond cucumbers come in all at once--much more than we felt like eating. I figured I would make fridge pickles and everyone would be happy.
The best laid plans..... First of all, I picked the cucumbers on Monday, intending to can them the next day, but ended up having to wait (thank the Lord they did not rot on my counter! These cucumbers are pretty sturdy with a thick rind and dense flesh that is extremely aromatic when sliced--they make the whole fridge smell like cucumbers).
Then I tried to find the Ball's Bread and Butter mix that I had thought I had squirreled away last year (the stuff that got me rave reviews), but could not find it. Went to FOUR stores--still nada (though I did end up with a plum tree and stuff to make cheese bread, so I still was a winner :D ). So I bought Mrs Wage's Bread and Butter mix to try.
Finally on Friday I was ready. Then I started googling. Never do that. It is like pregnant women googling what can go wrong or using Web MD (Elbow pain: could be elbow cancer). What I thought was perfectly safe (fridge pickles) apparently can develop listeria and one has to eat the pickles within three days to be safe. I could not even eat this much CUCUMBER in three days, forget eating that many pickles. xsighx. SO I figured I would water bath AND make sure there was a ton of vinegar AND keep them in the fridge. Layers of redundancy, yes?
Then, because I also could not find my canning pot (and it would not have mattered if I could because my stove can't handle it), I needed small jars that could be processed in my pasta pot. BUT I did have a case of small, "mainstays" brand jars that I had bought at Walmart for a ladie's "bath salt and milk bath" thing we did! They were half pints, sort of square-ish, really cute, and small enough to fit in my pasta pot for processing (I do love surprise alliteration :) ). I also found a few Ball Pint jars in my cabinet.
Of course I had no rack for that pot, BUT I am nothing if not obstinate about work the problem, so I tried a disposable aluminum pan bent into a round shape and resting on canning rims (ok, in this case, google came through with the canning lid trick :) ).
As much of a slow start as I got, the process itself went really smoothly. I had to lose the aluminum pan (that didn't work at all), but the jars fit really well in the pot. I processed them for a few more minutes than I probably needed to (one recipe said 5 minutes, one said 10...and again, this is not my comfy place anyway). I also discovered that ball canning lids are awesome for the "ping!" that they do, but mainstays lids are very difficult to see if they have sucked in. Next time we are just going to stay with ball lids.
The results? Golden Deliciousness. I used some pickle crisp so they are nice and crunchy. I couldn't even wait 24 hours to try them :) Plus the Bootheby's Blond cucumbers make very pretty pickles as their rind is a yellow, not green. I also realized I need to put more slices in a jar, as the canning process makes them shrink up. That was difficult though because the BB cucumbers were big fat things so I had to put in one slice at a time and shove it in--some of the slices didn't really fit!
Here is what I ended up with:
I ended up with 3 pints and about 11 half pints of pickles.
The juice looked so pretty with the light shining through!
You can see how much room is left at the bottom. I am not sure I could have shoved more slices in there and still closed the lid, but I will try next time.
Such a pretty yellow color and fabulous stacks--perfect for a burger!
I am now inspired for small batch canning. Next stop: Grape Jelly!
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