Pickle Making Time!

Evidently my family are creatures of habit. Just as festivals and holidays are celebrated at the same time each year, I now declare the first weekend of August as Pickle Days!

Without realizing it we made our garden fresh pickles on the same weekend this year as we did last year. Last year we were beginners and broke a couple of jars adding them to the hot water. This year we felt like pros since we didn't break any jars and unlike last year, we actually had the tools you are supposed to have for canning.

We made Bread and Butter Pickles and processed 9 jars.

I planted the cucumbers a bit late this year, so we don't yet have enough to make a huge amount of pickles. The plants are all doing well and we have brine left over, so I hope to make more bread and butters later this week. The dill pickles will have to wait another week or two.

I guess I'll have to extend the official Pickle Days Holiday to include all of August!

Beginner Pickle Maker Breaks Jars!

The above title reads like a newspaper headline doesn't it? My family had so much fun making pickles that even when we had a jar break, we had a good laugh about it. I was quite surprised the first time it happened but now I know why all canning directions say that you need to have "hot" jars and you must put "hot" liquid into the packed jars. They never say why you need to do each step on the directions! Obviously if the jars are not hot, the extreme temperature change that occurs when putting the jars into the boiling water can (and will) break the jars.

The first time it happened, as pictured above, we were making dill pickles. I noticed it right away because I was putting the jars in one at a time. The 2nd time it happened, we were making Bread & Butter pickles and this time I had discovered that you can lower all of the jars in at once (remember, I am a beginner). This time we didn't know the jar was broken until after the processing time was complete. What a mess! We don't have a range hood so the whole kitchen was sticky because the steam carried the sugar!

Even with our beginner mistakes, we had fun making the pickles. We have eaten several jars of the dills already but are supposed to wait a few weeks before opening the bread and butter pickles.

The whole family took part in making the pickles and my daughters had a great time!