A pack of pickles
I teased you two days ago with the comment of Nate and I trying something new in the kitchen. Well, not so new to me as my family and I used to make these somewhat frequently, but new to Nate.Since we got to Ohio we have been surrounded by fresh produce, be it at farmers markets or at pick your own farms. It's been amazing and has sent Nate into a "must learn to pickle/can/jam/preserve" frenzy. Since once upon a time my dad and I used to make pickles and because we found pickling cucumbers it seemed like a logical path into canning.
So...a little over six weeks ago I pulled out the recipe and we got down to it. We cleaned the cucumber and sterilized the glass jars. Into the jars we tossed in...
A dill head, horseradish, garlic, a dried pepper, whole pepper corn, dill seed, a bay leaf and pickling salt.
And into the clean jar it all went.
Then we packed in the cucumbers nice and tight and topped them off with a vinegar/water mixture.
They were then lidded and boiled to create a seal.
While we waited I tried to get "artsy" with the dill.
After that we had to wait six weeks to see if they were any good. Well folks that six week mark was this past weekend and they weren't good. We're going to let them sit for a bit more, but I'm not holding my breath.
Yeah, big ol' fail. Which I am not above sharing with you all. I wouldn't want you to ever think I'm good at everything I try, cause man am I not.
It's okay though, because we can try a different recipe down the road. Plus it was our first time canning/pickling (my first time without the help of the father). At least it was a lot of fun and it lead into the canning of peaches in a simple syrup and homemade apple sauce (super yummy!).
Tonight though, it's chili night and I know I can't screw that up!
My question for you all is...was there something you always wanted to make/try and it came out badly? Or was there something you did with your family, that you tried doing on your own without success?
My husband would just DIE if I canned him pickles. We used to can jam with my grandma as kids. I have never tried it because I'm super afraid of failing. I've made some pretty bad recipes before, they just never make the blog ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, because Nate HATES pickles, but man did he want to make them! And of course now looking back, when I say I helped make the pickle, it really meant that I got to clean all of the cucumbers while my dad did everything else. Oops.
ReplyDeleteI like you blog! I'm following.
ReplyDeleteplease follow mine at http://jenniferscavone.blogspot.com
Ciao!