Someone just dropped of like 40 small cucumbers from some nuns they know. I might try it since I have about 5 32oz glass Ball jars left over from tomato sauce gifting.

Paging Yail Bloor......

This guy is a master

Do you want to pickle cucumbers or can pickles? Pickling simply involves letting the cucumbers soak in a vinegar brine from 1 week to 2 months before consuming within a window of up to a year. Canning involves a similar brine with the addition of sealing the jars by boiling them in water and having them available indefinitely. I've only done pickling without canning because it's a lot easier and I've never harvested enough cukes to warrant a full canning operation. This recipe seems as good as any I've tried:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/07/12/156619002/three-secrets-to-crispy-pickles-and-a-lost-recipe-found

I always go through with the full on sealing of the jars even though i consume them within a year.

They sell this powder that you add to the jars to maintain crispness. (probably contains alum). I've also found that getting the cukes nice and cold in the fridge before canning promotes crispness.

So yeah, its pretty fun and sort of a big fucking mess, the tradeoff being that you have lots of pickles.

I've read that if you don't heat the water to a full boil during the canning process (~180-190 degrees F), it makes for a more crispy pickle without sacrificing safety. Any experimentation with that aspect of canning?

No, but as a practical matter, putting six quart jars in a large pot of near boiling water might lower the temperature that much anyways. Maybe. Not sure.

I've also heard of sealing the jars by putting them in the dishwasher but I've never tried it.

So, back from dropping kids off to school and my wife had taken all the cukes to her work to give away, arrrrgh! I still got the jars. I will try this at some point.

Noooooo! I used to have ambitions in this area but my cukes have never produced well. Green beans and tomato sauce I like better frozen... That said I hear the canning is super easy with a pressure cooker, fun Xmas gift for all!

Can't go wrong with a good pressure cooker. Rice in 8 minutes. Dry beans fully cooked in 25. Soups and sauces in 30. Stocks in an hour and a half.




This is the Fagor Duo 10 quart stainless steel model I have. Two safety mechanisms. Solidly constructed. Not one issue with it for over four years.

I have the 8 quart just like that. Dried beans today are the biggest innovation, but I got it after the second time I went to bed without remembering to turn off and decant stock in its sixth or so hour. Recommended!

Dern, I need one of those fuckers.

When I make stock from meal scraps, I usually cook for about two hours under high pressure, then turn off the stove-top before I go to bed. When I wake up in the morning 7 hours later, the steel is still hot to the touch and bones fall apart like wet cardboard. I usually make about a gallon of stock, pour it into ice cube trays, freeze and I have enough stock for about 2 weeks in 1 oz. increments.

We Can Pickle That!