I tried and I tried but Emily got pickled the other night. Of course, the same night, I got pretty sauced so I guess we’re even. The garden hasn’t produced most things very well this year but we do have a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers.
We’ve already made plenty of salsa with the tomatoes and peppers, onions, etc that we got. We figured tomato sauce can be used for about everything so we made a batch of that. It’s pretty easy really so it was ideal. We run the tomatoes through our Velox tomato press and then throw it all in a crockpot to cook down. Some folks boil their tomato puree until it is half the volume. We just throw it in the crockpot (uncovered) and forget about it for 24 hours. By then, it is cooked down and we are oficially sauced. I think we had about 2500 pounds of tomatoes and once it was all cooked down, we ended up with 5 pints of sauce. We’ll run throuhg several more batches of sauce because it is so handy when we need to make something yummy over the winter!
Neither Emily nor I like cucumbers raw. Emily doesn’t like them pickled either but she’s sauced, obviously. Anyhow, I love pickles so we made a bunch with the cukes we harvested this year. I grow dill too so we definitely made our pickles from some of the freshest ingredients around. I suppose we could make vinegar, but I don’t think we’re ready for that yet. Anyhow, I love making pickles because the smells of the ingredients take me back to when my Grandma canned pickles. She canned tons of stuff and the smells and the warmth of the kitchen remind me of her<sniff, sniff>
Ok, so it was a bunch of fun getting pickled too. Don’t tell, but I figure we’re get pickled and sauced a bunch more times this summer!
‘Sauced and pickled’ LOL!
Question–if y’all don’t like cucumbers and don’t particularly like pickles, why do you grow them?
.-= ceecee´s last blog ..Musings of Color Theory =-.
Oh, I love pickles…it’s my silly wife and kids who don’t…
Hmm. I bet the tomato sauce is good. Do you can it or freeze it after cooking it down? Nathan really likes making soups with a good tomato base. My mom would make dill pickles. However the smell does not bring back the same memories for me. I HATED the smell. I could hardly eat. I remember staying in my room and putting a towel at the bottom of the door to try and keep the smell out. When I still lived at home we would can green beans, freeze corn, make strawberry jelly (one of my favorites), and some white beans (I can’t remember what kind). I think my mom said that the sweet corn is almost in. I love some fresh corn on the cob.
BTW. I meant to comment on this earlier but I don’t think I did. I went to Long Hunter State park last weekend. I got lily out in one of the Jon boats and it reminded me of your canoe. I think I’ll try the canoe next time. It has given me the fever for wanting a boat of my own but Nathan won’t have it. Did you ever take your canoe out here?
Just to clarify – I do like pickles – only the sweet gerkin variety. Somehow Warren doesn’t want to make those. I’m not a huge pickle eater though, so I don’t mind making his dill ones. They’re so pretty in the jar.
Emily looks like Carol Merril from “Let’s Make A Deal” displaying her pickles!
I think you two would make Ma and Pa Ingalls proud!
.-= Capri Kel´s last blog ..Way Back When-sday-The Salon =-.
How big is your garden? With only 2 of us, I’m still trying to figure out how much is enough. I usually do lime pickles – have yet to find a dill recipe where the pickles stay crisp.
It’s the same here. I love pickles, but Eric hates them. Making dilly beans right now, have you ever tried? They’re pretty awesome. I am soooo envious of your tomatoes!! Almost makes me consider moving south…..almost…. 🙂
.-= farm mom´s last blog ..An Update =-.
Yum! I love pickles (dill only). And dilly beans! You guys seem to be going gangbusters on your produce there. I’ve got lots of green tomatoes and two that are almost ripe….Now, if I can keep the bugs off my green peppers and the wildlife out of my tomatoes, I’ll be good!
.-= Evil Twin’s Wife´s last blog ..The Ink =-.
That’s it…you win for best blog post titles! Even you’re titles make me laugh!!! Kim
.-= inadvertent farmer´s last blog ..Let’s go for a canoe ride! =-.
Loretta – we canoe some but not as much as we should. I never did canoe at Long Hunter as I recall. It’s a great park though…we did visit often.
Capri Kel – Those straw hats itch my head too much!
Odie – the garden is around 400 square feet. It keeps us and Emily’s grandparents in vegetables pretty well…
Farm mom – all god things happen in the south! I think I have had dilly beans but we’ve not made them. Everyone raves though…we should try!
ETW – good luck keeping wildlife away. Get a dog…that’s about the only thing that works I think…and it doesn’t work well.
inadvertent farmer – I only speak the truth!
I’ve been making fridge pickles, no canning necessary. I’m hoping to harvest enough to try a batch of brined pickles.
I did try a batch of pasturized pickles last week (you keep water at 180-185 for 30 minutes in water bath canner), they’re supposed to be crispier than regular canned pickles. We shall see.
.-= Chiot’s Run´s last blog ..Another Reason to Grow Your Own! =-.
I love pickles 🙂 But can’t stand raw tomato’s, so we make tons of sauce also haha 🙂 I definetly agree with Emily, dill pickles (homemade) look so darn pretty in the jar!
.-= Erica´s last blog ..Bouncy Balls and Swimming Lessons =-.
I thought about making vinegar but I vaguely remember reading that you don’t want to encourage the vinegar bacteria in the same place that you brew wine or beer so with Becca doing mead and her dad doing ale I’ll skip that project unless I hear otherwise.
Oh yum….my tomatoes are still green…..
.-= Kris Bair´s last blog ..life =-.