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Hello from the kitchen! It's the time of year when I get myself in a pickle! I love canning pickles. Crisp sweet pickles, hot dill, and pickled green tomatoes. A family favorite is hot pepper rings. As a child I don't recall ever eating pickles. Or anything spicy. Meat, potatoes and corn and more of the same! My taste buds have evolved over the years. I'll share my grandma Kuhn's recipe for lime pickles also. When canning pickles I like to find small cucumbers. I think they pack nice in the jars. The produce stands are filling up with fresh and local fruits and vegetables.
Crisp sweet pickles
• 7 lbs small cucumbers
• 1 pint salt
• 1 gallon water
• 2 TBSP Alum
• 6 lbs sugar
• 3 pints white vinegar
• 4 tsp whole mixed spice
• 4 tsp celery seed
Slice the cucumbers into thin slices. Make a brine of salt and water. Pour over cucumbers. Cover with a weight (dinner plate) to keep the cucumbers submerged. Let set 5 days stirring once daily. Drain. Soak the cucumbers in clear cool water for two days. Drain and cover with boiling water to which the Alum has been added and dissolved in. Let sit for 24 hours. Drain and cover with just boiling water and let stand till cooled off. Drain. Make syrup of sugar, vinegar and mixed spices and celery seed. Heat on stove long enough to dissolve the sugar. Don't boil. Pour over the cucumber slices while the brine is hot. Let stand 24 hours. Drain and reheat the syrup. Pour over the pickles. Fill pint or quart jars with the pickle slices and seal in canner.
Hot Dill Pickles
• 4 quart box of small cucumbers
• 4.5 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup salt
• 3 quarts plus one cup water
• 1/4 tsp Alum
• Dill heads
• Garlic cloves
• Onions, peeled and quartered
• Hot peppers
Pour vinegar, salt and water in a kettle. Cook until very hot and salt is dissolved. In each quart jar put alum, one dill head, one garlic clove, one quarter onion and a hot pepper. Fill the jars with the cucumbers as full as possible. Pour over the brine. Put in canner till sealed.
Note: For a good heat I put a slit in the pepper
Pickled green tomatoes
• 75-100 small green tomatoes
• 1/2 cup salt
• 4 quarts water
• Grape leaves
• Fresh dill heads
• 10 quarts water
• 1 quart cider vinegar
• 2 cups salt
• Handful of garlic cloves
• 6-10 hot peppers
• 1 1/4 tsp Alum
Wash tomatoes and either leave whole or halve if larger. Make a brine by mixing half cup salt in 4 quarts water. Pour over the tomatoes and let soak overnight. Combine the vinegar, 10 quarts water and salt and bring to a boil. Let set overnight. In the morning, drain the tomatoes (throw out first salt brine) and pack tomatoes either in a large crock or gallon jars putting the grape leaves between the layers. Add the dill, garlic and hot peppers. Pour the liquid over top. Will keep in the fridge indefinitely or you can seal them in jars. I hide them in the back of the fridge for at least a month so the flavors can hang out together!
Grandma's Lime Pickles
• 7 lbs sliced cucumbers
• 2 gallons water
• 2 cups lime
• 2 quarts cider vinegar
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1 tsp mixed pickling spice
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 4.5 lbs sugar
• 1 TBSP salt
• Green coloring
Soak cucumbers in cold water and lime that's been dissolved for 24 hours. Drain off the lime water and rinse well. Cover with clean cold water and let set for 3 hours. Drain again. Put all the spices in a small bag. Mix the vinegar, salt, several drops of green coloring and sugar till dissolved. Add in the spice bag. Pour everything over the cucumbers and let stand overnight. In the morning, heat the kettle of pickles on stove gently for 30 minutes. Seal jars in canner while pickles are still hot.
Good luck making pickles! They will taste good this winter when you need something to add to that burger! Happy cooking and eat well my friends!
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Bev Kauffman, of Lewistown, operated a catering business in Juniata County for nearly 20 years. She has authored the cookbook, "Preserving the Past: In the Kitchen with Bev Kauffman" in 2013 and is currently working on a second cookbook.