Thread: dill pickles
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George Shirley[_3_] George Shirley[_3_] is offline
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Default dill pickles

On 7/21/2017 9:49 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Thu 20 Jul 2017 04:45:26a, George Shirley told us...
>
>> On 7/20/2017 12:38 AM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Wed 19 Jul 2017 05:49:05a, songbird told us...
>>>
>>>> 5 quarts small whole pickles with plenty
>>>> of dill.
>>>>
>>>> when i was cleaning them the night before
>>>> i popped open a pint from the first batch
>>>> that i made on 6/30. they were yummy.
>>>>
>>>> i mistakenly made a few small batches after
>>>> the first which had more salt in them, but
>>>> i doubt that will stop me or my bro from
>>>> eating them.
>>>>
>>>> digging garlic today. not too many bulbs
>>>> but enough (and if it isn't enough i have
>>>> plenty more i can dig up any time out back
>>>> in the more wild garden).
>>>>
>>>> beans are doing well, starting to see plenty
>>>> of flowers. have to train some climbers
>>>> up the fence instead of runners swarming other
>>>> neighboring plants.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> songbird
>>>>
>>>
>>> I only make "new pickles" with dill and garlic and therefore
>>> only make 1 or 2 pints at a time because even when refrigerated
>>> they "ripen" too quickly for my taste and the saltiness can
>>> become overwhelming. I'm the only one in the house that eats
>>> them.
>>>
>>> The only other pickles I make are bread & butter, and I usually
>>> make a dozen pints or so. We don't have a garden, so I must buy
>>> all my produce. One source I have usually has fresh Kirby
>>> cucumbers.
>>>
>>> When I can get really nice green beans I make dilly beans, both
>>> savory and sweet/spicy versions.
>>>

>> We have a dozen or so pickles of varied types, mostly older jars
>> in the pantry. This year our cucumber crop was a total failure.
>> Mold hit them early on as we received a bit more rain than we
>> needed at the time. Same with the green beans. Luckily we had a
>> very good carrot crop so made dilly carrot sticks.
>>
>> If Ma Nature screws up things then we introduce her to something
>> new. Currently we are staggering around with near 100 degrees
>> daily and then a rush of rain. The mocking birds did in the sparse
>> crop of figs so no fig jam this year. The kumquat tree lost its
>> blooms and, believe it or not, two months later it popped up
>> blooms and even more than the ones that were dropped in the
>> freeze. Weather here has been strange for the last year, we're not
>> used to hard freezes followed by very hot summer.
>>
>> I don't think we will starve as the pantry closet in my office is
>> full of goodies. Dear wife has made a batch of pickled okra and
>> sweet peppers, they will sit for at least a month before we eat
>> them. If one crop fails we seem to have another crop that is
>> humongous.
>>
>> George
>>

>
> At least you have a well stocked pantry, George, crop failure or not.
> It's too bad about the things that didn't work out.
>
> I made a dozen quarts of Corn and Okra Soup to put in the freezer,
> one of my favorite uses of okra. I do love okra pickles, but so far
> this year have not made any. As you know, I have to buy all my
> produce. The okra I got for the soup was perfect. I hope the next
> batch I buy is just as nice and I can put up a few jars of pickles.
>
> When I shop tomorrow I may pick up a small amount of okra just for
> frying up, to go along with chicken fried steak, fried corn, and
> mashd potatoes.
>
> The Kirbys I can get will do nicely for my bread and butter pickles,
> but I'll not get to that for another couple of weeks.
>
> We've had almost two weeks of nightly rains which is unusual for
> Phoenix, but all it does for is water down our brick patio and our
> large plants. :-)
>

Miz Anne handles the garden at her church and has had a humongous gift
of okra, cow horn variety, very big around and very long. As our part we
put up pickled okra, cut okra frozen, and have fried a few batches. I'm
getting tired of okra.

Our sweet peppers have outdone themselves this year and we have
harvested a few large buckets of them so far. Now the heat is starting
to slow them down. A few tomatoes are still working but most of
everything in the garden is starting to wilt. Might have gotten lucky
there as we need to refurbish the artificial "dirt" in the raised beds.
I'm looking at rental small cement mixers as we are getting a bit to old
to sling a tarp with "dirt" in it. If you garden there are many ways to
get things done without breaking our old backs and arms.

George