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<\/a><\/div>\nI promised last time I would try to document how it’s done.\u00a0 This time, J set me up to do my own, and now I’m more confident about the process.\u00a0 Here’s what I did:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Cut the cucumbers into spears.\u00a0 Be observed closely by your 6-year-old cousin A, who will inform you that your spears are too long.\u00a0 Discover she is right. Suggest maybe mommy could go relax with a glass of sangria and she could just teach you, which she will agree with.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n2.\u00a0 Add one clove of garlic (two if they are small) 1 tsp of dill seed and 1\/2 tsp. of mustard seed:<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n3.\u00a0 Pack jar with cucumber spears.\u00a0 Add another teaspoon of dill seed on top:<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n4. Cover cucumbers with brine (2 cups of of cider vinegar, 3 cups of water & 5 tablespoons of canning salt, brought to a low boil, then kept warm.)\u00a0 <\/p>\n
5.\u00a0 Cover jars with lids and bands, and seal as tightly as possible.\u00a0 Put jars in the canner, and boil for 10 minutes, before removing and allowing to cool.\u00a0 Do not allow hot jars to bump into each other while cooling.\u00a0 Leave this part of the process to your cousin J, and\u00a0head home to dinner with your husband.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0 While canning, watch out for cousin’s smallest son, M, who will roll himself across the floor in his walker and repeatedly slam himself into your ankles, and then smile at you.<\/p>\n
We’ll let the pickles cure for about 2 – 4 months before we open them.\u00a0 I now have 7 pints and 5 quarts of these pickles.\u00a0 Next week we will probably be doing bread and butter pickles.\u00a0 Or maybe I’ll just pick A up and she can teach me while her mom relaxes.<\/p>\n
And since I have lately been taking photos of other people’s gardens:<\/p>\n
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