Our kitchen counter looked like this for weeks this summer (though it was even more blurry with my glasses off). We grew 4 varieties of cucumbers and have been eating amazing cucumber salads almost every day. We also put up a couple batches of both canned and refrigerator bread and butter pickles. Most excitingly for me, we also made two batches of brined half-sours. Yum!
I hadn't tried fermenting pickles for several years, and to be honest my track record was not good before this year. In the past I would make huge crocks of brine only to have something go wrong with the process and end up with a huge crock of cucumber compost. But I just love deli pickles, so this year I tried again, and used a new recipe (from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich). This process is small-scale, just a 2-quart jar, and utilizes a brine-filled ziplock bag to seal off air. The brine is seasoned with garlic, coriander, and home-grown dill heads. It was a brilliant success! These half-sours are delicious, perfect for an afternoon snack, on their own or alongside sweet garden tomatoes.
3 comments:
What a wonderful summer treat. We love pickles, especially your pickles xo The jar of canned pickles you sent Mike home with that time only lasted two days!
Of course what makes it better is our home-grown dill.
Sam' XY
it looks so good. The garden is definitely winding down for summer. I need to get motivated to get the fall/winter stuff in soon!
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