I have to admit that I bought mine this year. And when we did the 300+ jars (from 500ml, 1L, 1.5L and 2L and Gallon jars...not a clue how many actual litres we did up that day we set our record) we bought them - no way had I produced more than about 1 bushel myself...and I'm only guessing, but think we did up at least 8 bushels that year.

I'm in too! I grow cukes, but no way could I do that! I would be off to the market to buy my pickling cukes. Wish I had thought about it earlier in the season. Still fighting my way thru tomatoes!

We could do a tomato tastefest / pickling weekend??? Mum & Dad's old kitchen was perfect to do it with 8 burners on 2 stoves and 2 ovens. If we're going to do a huge amount, I'm going to check out local "commercial kitchens" - churches or community centres for a day's rental.


Arrive Friday night - get together and perhaps any advance prep we can do that night. (Or we make up something like Sorellina's Sicilian Caponata?)
Saturday early - 8am - Team A - hits the farmer's market for cukes, garlic, dill, hot peppers, (and the makings for mixed pickles - Tourshi in Armenian - if anybody is interested - cukes, cauliflower, beans, snap peas, carrots, celery, eggplant, cabbage, peppers [hot & sweet])
Saturday early - 8am - Team B - arrives at commercial kitchen and moves in "equipment"; starts cleaning jars, lids & rings; sets up tables for assembly line prep.
Saturday - Team A arrives at commercial kitchen and joins in prep, stuffing of jars, making up of brine, etc.
Saturday late afternoon or evening (depending upon how long we have the kitchen for) clean up, pack up and head out for a BBQ.
Sunday - Tomato Tasting Gathering & BBQ

What's that sound like to you all?

Sounds GREAT! :D Maybe we could car pool!

Zana, you forgot to mention the seed swap :shock:

Linda

It sounds like a hoot! I'll need some wine at the bbq! Car pool sounds great! Can't wait!:dance:

Just wanted to add, that I could bring stuff from my market like garlic and dill and hot peppers. The Sicilian Caponata sounds delish!

Depending upon where we do it - the canning/pickling or the bbq, we could be using grape juice lubrication too! ;) LOL Although you might want to wait until you've finished with any sharp knives...lol. Just sayin'.

Polish Pickles
 

Anybody have a GREAT recipe for Polish Pickles? A recipe past down in a Polish family would be ideal.

I found this online with 5 star reviews
[url]http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/marybelles-polish-dill-pickles-176905[/url]

This is an old Polish recipe of our friend's grandmother. According to the family tradition she made the best pickles. :)

Pickles
2 kg of cucumbers

marinate:
0.5 l of apple vinegar 6%
2.5l of water
3 tablespoons of salt
30-36 dkg of sugar (This is too sweet for us. I add less than a half of this.)
Boil all the ingredients of the marinate and cool it.

Put in every jar (0,9l): a bay leaf, a garlic clove cut in half, 2-3 slices of the carrot, two allspice berries, dill (a small umbel with seeds or a piece of the stalk), mustard seeds (on the top of a teaspoon), a few onion feathers. And: if you like, a piece of sweet or hot pepper.
Next put the cucumbers in the jar, pour the cold marinate and pasteurise until the cucumbers change color to olive color.

[QUOTE=ginger2778;688860]I found this online with 5 star reviews
[URL]http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/marybelles-polish-dill-pickles-176905[/URL][/QUOTE]

Thank you. You're a star in more ways than one :)

[QUOTE=dorota;688870]This is an old Polish recipe of our friend's grandmother. According to the family tradition she made the best pickles. :) [/QUOTE]

Hallo Dorota. Thank you for the special pickle recipe! I've been eating Polish Dill Pickles imported from Poland which are really tasty. They are sweet and have a sprig of dill in the jar, so your recipe sounds perfect. They used the little gherkin cucumbers, but does your recipe works good with slightly larger ones?

All the Polish people I know buy theirs from the store.:lol:

Worth

dustdevil, I am sure the recipe will work with bigger cucumbers too. I do not use little gherkin cucumbers for pickles. It is not by choice. They do not sell them at our farmer's market. :) I use biger ones, even 10-12 cm long. The same cucumbers I use for fermented pickles.

Worth, I buy pickles from time to time too, but I like to have some home made pickles in my pantry, :)

[QUOTE=dorota;689077]dustdevil, I am sure the recipe will work with bigger cucumbers too. I do not use little gherkin cucumbers for pickles. It is not by choice. They do not sell them at our farmer's market. :) I use biger ones, even 10-12 cm long. The same cucumbers I use for fermented pickles.

Worth, I buy pickles from time to time too, but I like to have some home made pickles in my pantry, :)[/QUOTE]
Thank you Dorota, i'll be using your recipe a lot, looking for sweet Polish Pickle recipe with less vinegar for a long time. I'll use it for many other things starting tomatoes and mushrooms... Thank you Dustdevil for asking the big question, Dorota and Marsha for finding and sharing great recipes! :love: