First DIY Pickling || Fresh From My Garden

My First Attempt Pickling Has Been Successful

I've posted about my hügelkultur raised bed in an earlier post, and I wanted to share with you my pickling experience. I had such an amazing harvest of cucumbers this year...I knew rather than wasting anything that I needed to try my hand at making dill pickles. For the record, I absolutely love dill pickles whether it be the classic spears or the deli sliced style. So, I made both.

Process Explained

I first gathered about 4 decently sized cucumbers and 2 peppers to clean for slicing.
I washed and sanitized all of the jars, lids, and utensils.
Made the brine with water, 5% acidic vinegar, minced garlic, dill weed, mustard seeds, and peppercorn. Then brought to a boil for 5 minutes. (Let it cool to room temperature before adding to the jar of cucumbers)
Sliced 2 cucumbers into small spears and the other 2 into deli slices. Cut the peppers into thin slivers.
Stuff and fit as tight as possible like a puzzle all of the cucumbers pieces into the jars. Then pour the brine into the jars until it is full.
Then use a non metallic spatula to slide in between the cucumbers and the sides of the jar all the way around to release air bubbles.
Use a clean cloth to wipe around the sealing area.
Grab a lid that has been in a sauce pan of water sanitizing, and place it firmly onto the sealing area and lightly hand tighten the banding ring.
Place the jars in a pot that has a rack at the bottom so that the jars don't get scorched on the bottom filled just with water just over the lids. Then bring to a boil for about 10 minutes. (*This will seal the jars for up to 18 months when the air is removed in the water bath)
After the 10 minutes carefully remove the jars and let them cool to room temperature.

I'm really excited to try these out, and I am proud to write that this year I was able to utilize the bounty of my garden. Now I have preserved these cucumbers for later, rather than having to throw them into the compost container.

I hope that this will inspire you to try new things. Also, if you haven't started your own garden...then try your hand at that first!

Great job. I love pickles so much. We grew so many last year. We were pickling then like crazy. We pickled beans as well

Wow, I will have to try that. I love making the southern style green beans....so I usually don't have any left over.

What are southern style green beans? The name sounds delicious.

Well now you've given me another post idea. The short answer is you snap the beans in half and strip the ends off. Then mix them in a pot with a bit of oil, water, and bring to a boil....for just a moment. Set the burner to medium and cook it slow and low while obviously adding your favorite spices (also bacon is pretty much a must).

Please make this a post. We love bacon and we love beans so I can't wait

I'll see what I can do.....my plants are probably about another week or so from putting out another bushel.

Oh I'll wait haha I'll be right here. I followed my friend so no rush

Here is the Southern-Style Green Bean post that I promised.

Gardening is not for everyone and especially for a person like me, but i wish you best of luck @jonnyrevolution

Fair enough.....but I feel like everyone should give it a try. I don't believe our generation is as connected to the earth as we maybe should be.

Nice job! I'll have to try this, haven't pickled anything before, and with a username like this one, I kinda have to.

haha...you're right. then make a post about it that is better than mine.

thank you for sharing @jonnyrevolution i have upvote you please upvote me.

I upvoted your cheese cake post. Thank you.

Hey that's an interesting post. UPVOTE and I'll follow your account to see how you doing :). Please follow me @pkumar

Thank you....I've also upvoted your shell rooftop. It looks really classsssy.