A Flock of Blue-cans on My Table

We inherited many strange and wondrous objects when my parents downsized their home last year. I recognized most. The arcane chemistry pieces: my maternal grandfather. The lacy aprons: my maternal grandmother. The wooden policeman whirligig: no idea. The original vibrating hand massager: I don't even want to think about it. 

I remember canning a lot of tomatoes when I was a kid, 40 years ago now. Late summer in my grandmother's kitchen, the one my mom & aunt grew up in, I would watch them can quarts and quarts of stewed tomatoes. I wasn't actually a fan, but it was family girl bonding. And afterward there would be ice cream. 

I don't recall them ever using any of these jars. Stored in the root cellar at my parents' house, now in mine. I'm totally hooked by the different shades of blue. My husband found dating schemes for the Ball jars online (some apparently dating back 100+ years), a few older Kerrs. 

Some other brands I'd never heard of: 

Can you see the bubbles in the glass of these Atlas jars? I am completely geeked out by that. 

 Schram 

 Drey

Another style of Atlas, possibly not as old as the blue ones, and a Presto. 

Jumbo Peanut Butter. Not a canning jar, and not as old, but still fun. My mom's family are the thrifty type, saving anything that could possibly be used (did you see the set of jelly jar drinking glasses on the right side in first photo?). 

I don't really know that much about them other than they are old, I like them, they are old, I want to continue using them in some way, and they are old. I don't trust any of them to withstand the heat of a water canner. Too pretty to risk. Possibly for decoration or lighting, or fridge pickles, or dry goods, or... ideas?

Dilly Garlic Beans

Pickles were never a favorite when I was younger. Too bitter, too tart. My maternal grandmother made outrageously good pickled beets though, and I still love sweet/sour over just sweet or just sour.

These days I enjoy eating pickles almost as much as I love making them. They are by far the easiest, most tweakable thing to put up. While you can't really change the acid and/or sugar balance too far and still keep them safe, you can add all sorts of vegetables and spices. 

Dilly Beans "before"

These Dilly Beans were totally inspired by the recipe by Marisa McClellan at Food in Jars. Even so, I looked for every green bean dill pickle recipe I could find, and made a big spreadsheet comparing all the ingredients to find the common themes. What can be changed, what is mandatory. It's my first try at Dilly Beans, and the scientist in me can't help herself (hey, it's a new kitchen protocol! You geeks out there, and you know who you are, know exactly what I'm sayin' - am I right?!). 

Deciding on the common-theme green bean dill pickle recipe (1 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon kosher salt; process pints for 10 minutes), I added a garlic clove, couple tiny dried red chillies, and a few black peppercorns to each jar. The hard part now is waiting a couple weeks before trying them. The Bloody Marys will have to wait.

Dilly Beans "after"

There were no cucumbers

Well, no bushels of cucumbers at pickle-making prices. So we came home with this lot instead:

We spoke with the farmers, and our Wisconsin summer has been too cold. Tomatoes and cucumbers will be another couple weeks. Beans and beets, however, look grand.

Looking at that haul, I can't help but see pickles. Maybe I should have that looked at.

Where's the Box??

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a box update - oops!. Late Summer veg production is in full swing, and I've been working to preserve as much as possible. This week's box is much like the last couple, so without further preamble:

This week's box contains: watermelon (an orange one!), sweet corn (8 ears), edamame soybeans, slicing tomatoes, bell peppers, Spanish onions, pickling cukes, basil, Romano beans, and heirloom tomatoes.

I don't have a pretty picture since the lighting was bad - we had storms in the area Friday afternoon, and I'm still totally reliant on natural sunlight for pictures. I have flash available, but the color is ug-ly! And I've not sprung for the light shed yet.... so....

Rather than share mediocre images, here are a couple shots of the pickling madness that's consumed the kitchen.

Hot pots on the stove!

Here's the big blue canner, the stock pot with pickling syrup, and a small saucepan with rings & lids behind. Notice I've learned you can use the handle of the stock pot as a handy spoon rest ;-)

Vinegar, sugar, jars.

I discovered last year the difference between apple cider vinegar and apple cider flavored vinegar (the flavored stuff is really bitter). Being fairly thrifty, I understand wanting to save on the fancy stuff, but when the real thing made from apple cider is only $1.79/gallon.... what would be the point of using anything else.

Bread & butter pickles ready to shelve.

So far we've been through 25lbs of cukes to make bread & butter pickles (slices and spears), sweet cucumber pickle relish, and garlic-dill cucumber pickle spears. Next came pickled beets, pickled watermelon rind, and cranberry-red onion relish. I've never had pickled watermelon rind before, but it sounds interesting; more on that later. With so much produce available right now, I have plans (reckless hopes?) to put up more, much more.