Our garden is bursting with tomatoes and cucumbers! Even the hailstorm a few weeks ago could not deter these hardy plants from their destiny. Of the six tomato plants Graham put in, the Juliet is the reigning champion! The fruit from that plant look like miniature Romas and they grow in clusters, like grapes almost. Every day we fill the windowsill.
The cucumbers have been close to overwhelming too. The seed packet Graham bought is for pickling cucumbers, so these grow to only 4 - 5 inches long. They are perfect for bread and butter, or sweet, pickles. It only takes about thirty minutes after the initial ice bath (which is a leisurely three hours).
The pickling process takes the iced cucumber slices and onions into a pot of boiling vinegar, sugar and spice mixture. The sterilized jars are then filled, fastened and placed in a water bath.
Once all the jars are covered and submerged, the bath needs to boil rapidly for ten minutes.
After the jars are removed you can hear a musical popping sound as the lids are securely tightened. In the limited experience I have with canning, I find sweet pickles to be the most satisfying, both for their methodology and their flavor.
1 comment:
Yum!!!
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