Thursdays are for cooking….

You asked for it, and you are definitely getting it.

Pickling and preserving is as old as, or older than, the Egyptian beer brewing business, which grew out of soaking wheat kernels to soften and sprout them. That water was allowed to ferment and turned into a beer that is reproduced today – wheat beer on a commercial scale.

Both of these recipes call for the small early cucumbers. You can either grow them if you have the room, or put in an order with a local truck farmer for small whole pickling cucumbers.  The cucumbers themselves do not need to be more than 1 ½ inch to 2 inches in diameter, and for the dill pickles, short enough to fit a large bunch into the jars.

First up is my mother’s ancient recipe for small, early cukes.  Since they are sliced very thin, the jars can be about the size of jam jars – about a pint.  I recommend making a small batch first, to test the flavoring, and make your own adjustments. They are semi-sweet and a tad spicy, but very good

Aristocrat Pickles

2 gallons of thinly sliced early cucumbers (How thin? 1/8 inch – use a mandolin)

Brine these covered for about 8 days in a non-reactive pot.

Brining ingredients are 2 cups of coarse salt to one gallon of boiling water.  To keep slices from floating to the top, weight the mass of sliced cukes down.

Drain after 8 days, cover with fresh water and simmer on the stove top for a half hour.

Drain the liquid, add 1 tablespoon of powdered alum and water to cover the cucumber slices. Simmer this for a half hour.

Drain the liquid again. Add 1 tablespoon of powdered ginger and water to cover. Simmer for a half hour.

The pickling solution is as follows and goes into the pickle pot after a brief boil:

1 pint of water

1 pint of vinegar (does not say regular or cider, but you could try either)

6 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon each: crumbled cinnamon bark, whole cloves, celery seed, whole allspice, in a simmering cloth bag. (Bag is plain cotton cloth with a drawstring to close it.)

Boil the spices with the pickling solution for 5 minutes. Add bag and liquid to the simmering sliced cukes and leave the bag with them, simmering for about a half hour or until the slices look clear.  DO NOT LET THEM BOIL. (You have to watch them like small children.)

Put the sliced pickles into small jars with some pickling liquid. I think if you boil the pickle jars in a  canning kettle, they’ll be hot enough to seal without any further heat, once you remove them from the hot canning bath.  Let them cool on a clean towel and listen for the *PLINK!* noises.  Let them sit for about 3 weeks to absorb the seasonings.

Next is Betty’s dill pickles, and these are very similar to Claussen’s small garlic dill pickles.

Betty’s Dill Pickles

In a large kettle, boil the following together until the salt is dissolved:

5 quarts of water

1 quart cider vinegar

1 ½ cups of coarse salt

Heat quart jars to boiling in a canning kettle, then turn off the heat.

Place the following in each jar:

1 head of dill weed

1 clove of garlic

¼ onion

¼ teaspoon alum powder

Fill each jar with the small cucumbers.   When the pickling solution is boiling, pour in enough to cover jar contents to within ½ inch of the top, cover and seal. All cukes must be small enough to fit below the pickling solution line.

Remove jars to the countertop and let them seal. Wait for the “PLINK” noise. They should seal without a hot water bath if they are hot. Also, these should sit on the shelf for about 3 weeks to get the seasonings thoroughly absorbed. They are best when served cold and crunchy. Again, adjust the seasonings to your preference. I like two garlic cloves instead of one, but that’s just me.

Category: Economy