i got enough here for a two-four, eh?

LOL...take-off , you hoser! Eh?!?

[quote=Zana;149131]LOL...take-off , you hoser! Eh?!?[/quote]



:)) Greaaaat......Bob and Doug Mackenzie stuck in my head now ;) :lol: :lol: :lol:

the beer hunter didn't have pickles, i'm sure

Tessa. I have made 8 batches of the pickles so far, 2 of the fresh pickle spears, 2 which were more like dill slices, and 4 of the bread and butter pickles varying the ingredients somewhat. The constant on every batch was the amount of pickling salt I used. 1 tsp for salting the cukes, then draining well and 2 TBSP in the brine. I have shared them with several people and none of them think they were too salty. Not sure why that is because if you sub Sea Salt for pickling salt supposedly you would use a little more
Note: For the dill slices I omitted the fennel and coriander seed and of course used regular white vinegar instead of the white wine vinegar. My son that prefers dill pickles claims they are the best dill flavored pickles I have made to date. Using the regular refrigerator method I have made over 100 quarts

hi duane.
i am noting that over time...the pickles are getting less salty.
maybe i was eating them too soon?

maybe so tessa, my son claims they improved in flavor quite a bit after a few days although they were edible within 24 hours.

LACTO-FERMENTED VEGETABLES-Pickles-Kraut-etc
 

Here's a couple of Webcrawler link pages if you're interested in or into lacto-fermented pickling.

[URL]http://www.webcrawler.com/webcrawler302/ws/results/Web/recipe%20Lacto%20Bacillus%20Fermented%20Pickles/1/0/0/Relevance/zoom=off/qi=1/qk=20/bepersistence=true/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true[/URL]

[URL]http://www.webcrawler.com/webcrawler302/ws/results/Web/recipe%20LactoBacillus%20Fermented%20Pickles/1/300/TopNavigation/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true[/URL]

[QUOTE=Earl;157417]Here's a couple of Webcrawler link pages if you're interested in or into lacto-fermented pickling.

[URL]http://www.webcrawler.com/webcrawler302/ws/results/Web/recipe%20Lacto%20Bacillus%20Fermented%20Pickles/1/0/0/Relevance/zoom=off/qi=1/qk=20/bepersistence=true/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true[/URL]

[URL]http://www.webcrawler.com/webcrawler302/ws/results/Web/recipe%20LactoBacillus%20Fermented%20Pickles/1/300/TopNavigation/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true[/URL][/QUOTE]
Thanks Earl! I was saying on another thread that this is the only way I do pickles anymore...Canning them using heat just never leaves them crisp enough.

I also forgot to mention water..I have well water and it is good but lots of minerals. I suggest you use distilled water when making pickles as minerals can cause softening and/or loss of flavor.

earl......... THANKS!!
LarryD

Here is a bread and butter pickle recipe that is pretty darn good. Ready to eat the next day but do improve if you let them set 4 or 5 days.

[URL]http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/07/16/classic-bread-butter-pickles-no-canning-required/[/URL]

Our garden is going CRAZY with CUCUMBERS! We have Straight 8 and also a Parisian cucumber that is great when small.

I saw a recipe here similar to the one I'm about to post, but thought by posting I could maybe bring this topic to the forefront as we all get busy preserving our harvests.

I tried this recipe a couple of years ago and was so surprised - in the dead of winter - when I remembered those little bags of cucumbers in the freezer... they were like a burst of sunshine and fresh garden goodness, they tasted SO FRESH! And crunchy! I was won over for the simplicity and great taste, and tonight I'm making yet another double batch. The recipe is from a book called [U]Small Batch Preserving,[/U] by Topp & Howard. (I really like that book...)

Without further adieu, here's the recipe.

[B][U]FREEZER BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES[/U][/B]

A fast variation of a traditional favorite, this easy recipe requires little preparation and no processing time. Either English or small pickling cucumbers can be used.
__

4 cups thinly sliced cucumbers (about 3/16 inch or 4mm thick)
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 sweet red pepper, thinly sliced
2 tsp pickling salt
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
___

Place cucumbers, onion and red pepper in large non-reactive container. Sprinkle with salt and mix well. Let stand for 3 hours, stirring occasionally; drain. Rinse twice and drain thoroughly.

Heat vinegar in microwave oven for 30 seconds or warm slightly on the stove top. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds and turmeric in a small bowl stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour over vegetables and mix well.

Pack vegetables into small freezer containers. Divide liquid and pour over pickles. Seal tightly and freeze. [I](NOTE: I just use quart freezer bags and always write something memorable on the bag about the day here at home or anything in the national or international news that might be happening at the moment I close the bag - it's just fun when the bags are unearthed! A veggie time-capsule, of sorts).[/I]

Store pickles in freezer up to six months*. Once thawed, use them within several days before they lose their crunch.
Makes about 3 cups (750 ML).

[I]*NOTE - 6 months might be best, but in my experience these are still great up to almost a year.[/I]

I love this recipe. With a pressure canner, what would be the correct amount of time and number of pounds of pressure to can refrigerator pickles if you wanted to make a large batch and store in the pantry?

My mother used to make dill pickles in a crock all the time.

You need a basement that is cool (around 65 degrees is ideal, she would have said), and a ceramic crock. (She used a 5 gallon crock.)

Fill the crock up to 3/4 full with cucumbers, add pickling liquid (at room temperature) and seasonings. (She used dill and some lump alum and sometimes a clove or two of garlic.)

Cover the pickles with a ceramic or glass plate that just barely fits in the crock and weigh that down with a clean jar filled with water. Cover the crock with a towel.

After a few days, you may get some scum on the top, skim it off, wash the plate and jar, and weigh the pickles down again.

They'll be at the 'sampling' point in about 2 weeks, and fully pickled in 4-6 weeks.

Her recipe for pickling liquid was:

2 quarts water
1 quarts white vinegar
3/4 cup pickling salt

She would bring this to a boil, then let it cool for crock pickles. When hot pack canning pickles, she'd use it without letting it cool.

However, I usually increase the amount of vinegar by a half cup, because I think 50 years ago when she was making pickles vinegar was a bit more acetic than it is today.