Friday, August 6, 2010

Bread and Butter Pickles

Canning season has begun in earnest at my house.  Last year I made jams and jellies until they were coming out my ears.  This year there is no need.  For that reason, I am just now starting to get going on canning.  The first was the bread and butter pickles.  We had used the last of them the other day and were anxious for more.  Among my notes for next year's garden is: plant more cucumbers! 

Oh and anyone who was going to ask, I use the recipe from the Ball Blue book for my pickles.  We love them!

7 comments:

  1. I have to get that book! I hear so many people talk about it!

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  2. I haven't started yet. I haven't made jams in years but the freezer is full of fruit so if I get the urge I can do it in the middle of winter when kiddies aren't underfoot.

    My cherry tomatoes are ripening but the field - canning - are still green.

    Going to buy some cucumbers from the local fruit/veggy farm. My new plants are coming up but it'll be Sept atleast before there's anything.

    Have all my onions out, the last of them are drying on the back step. Next will be potatoes. Then I want to till that half and plant lettuce and spinach and see if they'll come up before it freezes.

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  3. I love bread and butter pickles. Maybe I should make them with the pile of cukes I have in the fridge.

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  4. Meemsnyc, The Ball Blue Book is the bible of canning. I would be lost without it.

    Farmwifetwo, I'm not going to need to make jam for years. We need to eat it at every meal at this point. It sounds like the garden is going well. It won't be long until you're canning up those tomatoes.

    Daphne, we love them. I need to get more cukes. I can't seem to ever plant enough.

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  5. How long does jam stay good in an unopened container?

    Those pickles sure look good.

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  6. Our cucumbers are just starting to produce. Picked my first (and only) one yesterday evening. I mixed up a big batch of refrigerator dill pickle solution and put it in a gallon glass jar this morning - and added one my single cucumber to it. More will come and I have the jar ready. It will be a while before I have the cucumbers coming on in sufficient quantity to do a proper canning batch of my favorite dill pickle relish - but in the meantime, I am going to toss the smaller harvests into the refrigerator pickling jar and make better use of them than I have in the past.

    Your canning efforts look beautiful. Isn't it addictive to see all those beautiful finished jars cooling on the counter?

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  7. Karen Anne, I think it keeps practically forever.

    Laura, smart idea on using them one at a time. It takes me a few days to build up enough for a batch of pickles as well. The canning is addicting!

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