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First Pickles! Garlic Dills For Our Virgin Batch
I've been busy since this afternoon preparing ingredients for my very first batch of garlic dill pickles. The cucumbers and herbs are fresh from the garden. We're almost done– just pouring the brine (water, vinegar, pickling salt, and a little sugar) over the jars stuffed with cucumbers, peeled garlic cloves, dill and basil, and then boiling the filled jars in the canner.
Just like the first time we made jam, its a little scary. I mean, after you've done something like this ONCE, it doesn't seem that hard. But the first time, it seems like there are all these little details that if you forget you'll screw up the whole damn thing. Then too– Gerick and I tend to get in one another's way the first time we do anything like this. By the second time, we're like a well-oiled machine because we know what the heck we're doing! Canning is a little scary too because if you screw it up, you could accidentally end up poisoning yourself. There are things you do to avoid contamination– and then you have to know the signs of spoiled canned food as well (like the lid popping up, or bubbles in the brine). However! You can't let your fear rule you. You just set out to learn and then you do it.
Still a little scary, though. Just saying!
And also-? My house smells like a salad exploded. OMG.
Our first batch are the garlic dills, but we'll do a second, smaller batch of “bread and butter” pickles as well. I picked up some pre-made stuff for that. And those are for sliced pickles, not the long skewers that I'm doing right now. But hopefully, we'll feel more practiced after that.
We've given over a dozen cucumbers away to other residents of White Gables. And some blackberry jam. Everyone seems pleased so far. And the harvest has just begun…
Meanwhile, we're noticing a LOT more people picking berries this years. Farmers are picking the blackberries at the borders of their fields and suburban folk are driving to parks or wild areas where blackberries are plentiful. WAY more people out picking than in previous years. Its like the news about food prices seems to be encouraging people to get the free stuff where they can.
I'm feeling rather relieved that we've been buying our canning supplies ahead of the curve so far (plus we have everything we had left over from last year). Suppliers were selling out really early in many places– this year it seems like they anticipated popular canning items and stocked up.
2012-08-23 15:13:45
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