Week 7

People think of pickles as a labor intensive, set aside a day, get out tons of equipment and make a big mess kind of thing but they don't need to be. Sure, making 24 jars of pickles is going to be an undertaking but you don't need to make 24 jars of pickles.  There are three recipes below that don't require canning or even canning jars.  This week the large shares will receive a couple pounds of pickling cukes and next week the small shares will receive some.  Below are recipes for refrigerator bread and butters, refrigerator dills and one for a Thai pickle.  None of these take much more time than making a salad and some dressing.  Pickling cucumbers are great to just eat out of hand too.


Carrots
Green Beans
Bunched Pearl Onions - The catalog described these as pearl onions but they actually matured a bit bigger and some almost look more like cippolinis.
Basil
Broccoli
Salad Mix - lettuce and calendula petals
Cucumber
Pickling Cucumbers - 2 pounds -  large shares this week and small shares next week


Pickles

Thai Pickle - good served with grilled chicken or fish and rice or a nice contrast to a rich Thai curry.

In a small saucepan mix

1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoons salt
fresh thinly sliced hot pepper (optional)

Bring mixture to a boil, remove from heat and stir to dissolve sugar and salt.  Pour mixture over

thinly sliced cucumbers
2-3 thinly sliced pearl onions.

Cool and let sit for an hour before eating.  Unlike the recipes below that keep well we like to eat this pickle within a couple days of making it.  We eat large portions - more of a salad serving than a garnish.

Bread and Butter Pickles

In a small sauce pan mix

1 1/2 cups white or cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon tumeric

Bring mixture to a boil, remove from heat and stir to dissolve sugar and salt.  Pour mixture over

sliced cucumbers
thinly sliced onion

Stir to mix and let sit until cool.  The cucumbers should release additional liquid as they sit creating more brine.

Put in jars or any non reactive container and store for a few days before eating.  These will keep for about a month.

Quick Dill Pickles 

This recipe is from Martha Stewart.  It has the extra step of letting the cukes sit with salt for an hour but it still very straight forward.  Instead of bunched dill we will have dill heads available at the stand if you want to make dill pickles.

Martha's Quick Dills