Friday, June 8, 2012
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Dixon Dill Pickles
Every end of July in the summer or begining of August my husbands family makes dill pickles. I first watched my mother in law and Aunt Minnie can peaches when my second Child Paige was only an infant.
As the years passed I was able to watch Minnie and Mickey pickle cucumbers and be a part of helping them in the kitchen .
A few times I pickled at my home with Aunt Minnie and one time at her Daughter n laws Cousin Cassandra Dixon.
Mickey and I spent one summer experimenting to add less salt, becuase we had a batch that ended up mushy and we wanted them to be extra crunchy. I finally recalled the year before i pickled by myself while her and Paige went to the lynden Fair. I thought when sealing the jars I had to bring the water to a boil after setting them in the hot bath. When I waited that long the cucumbers actually cooked in the jars making the pickles soft yuck!! dilly beans shrivled also!! Its only a hot bath to seal the lids not letting the inside boil and cook is important!
Mickey has a book pickling for dummies we used when we couldnt find Minnies recipe she uses Juanitas Dill pickles:
1 quart cider vinegar ( we use white)
3 quart water
1 cup pickling salt(reduce a 1/4 c scooped out)
approximatly 2 tsp pickling spice **** ( Mick and I didnt add this)
1 tsp red peppar flakes *** we used one dried red hot pepper or jalepenos
changes:
my notes on back say:
1 c pickling salt
4 cloves garlic!! oohh!!
4chile peppers (if you want spicy)
1 tsp dill seed ( we didnt have fresh plant that year)
in jars:
sprigs of fresh dill ( we look for the seedy ends from the big fresh plant)
alum*** says will make crunchy ( mick and I didnt use ) only use in the.soak in the beginning and.rinse it.off.
2 whole dried red peppers ( if you want spicy pickle)
1 clove of garlic ( peeled) we add two cloves fresh
bring water to a boil pour over prepared jars
keep jars warm in the oven 250 degrees
in flat cake pan fill 1/2 w water for 25 min
tips clean jars boil lids and wipe rim after filling
If Aunt Minnie recalls the year me and her pickled together our pickles wer sooo good!! she listened to my suggestion we learned from reading the pickling for dummies book Mickey and I discussed and reducing the salt really made a difference. Of course I didnt write down what we did and Minnie doesnt remember. I think we took it down by a fourth a cup.'
When we tried to pickle last year with Cassandra Minnie Me and Mickey we tried to discuss all of the things we had learned and changed. But we just had this Juanitas recipe to follow. We made a few with no pickling spice and a few with less salt added.
I let Ken my husband try one less salt added pickle and the regular recipe he could really taste the difference and preferred the less salt with no pi ckling spice. Its had a strange black pepper taste that was overwhelming.
I know that Cassandra and Minnie say they cant tell any differece until we have the two together I dont think we will konw the verdict for sure.
I think I need to pickle alone or with Mickey this year and try to reduce the salt.
Another.issue that comes up is bringing the hot bath water back to a boil
. After each bath.
Only let jars sit in hot bath for 5 mins to seal the lids don't worry about coming back to a boil when jars are in. WE over cooked one year waiting for them to come back to a boil I did ten min soak today !
making dilly beans today with janelle
As the years passed I was able to watch Minnie and Mickey pickle cucumbers and be a part of helping them in the kitchen .
A few times I pickled at my home with Aunt Minnie and one time at her Daughter n laws Cousin Cassandra Dixon.
Mickey and I spent one summer experimenting to add less salt, becuase we had a batch that ended up mushy and we wanted them to be extra crunchy. I finally recalled the year before i pickled by myself while her and Paige went to the lynden Fair. I thought when sealing the jars I had to bring the water to a boil after setting them in the hot bath. When I waited that long the cucumbers actually cooked in the jars making the pickles soft yuck!! dilly beans shrivled also!! Its only a hot bath to seal the lids not letting the inside boil and cook is important!
Mickey has a book pickling for dummies we used when we couldnt find Minnies recipe she uses Juanitas Dill pickles:
1 quart cider vinegar ( we use white)
3 quart water
1 cup pickling salt(reduce a 1/4 c scooped out)
approximatly 2 tsp pickling spice **** ( Mick and I didnt add this)
1 tsp red peppar flakes *** we used one dried red hot pepper or jalepenos
changes:
my notes on back say:
1 c pickling salt
4 cloves garlic!! oohh!!
4chile peppers (if you want spicy)
1 tsp dill seed ( we didnt have fresh plant that year)
in jars:
sprigs of fresh dill ( we look for the seedy ends from the big fresh plant)
alum*** says will make crunchy ( mick and I didnt use ) only use in the.soak in the beginning and.rinse it.off.
2 whole dried red peppers ( if you want spicy pickle)
1 clove of garlic ( peeled) we add two cloves fresh
bring water to a boil pour over prepared jars
keep jars warm in the oven 250 degrees
in flat cake pan fill 1/2 w water for 25 min
tips clean jars boil lids and wipe rim after filling
If Aunt Minnie recalls the year me and her pickled together our pickles wer sooo good!! she listened to my suggestion we learned from reading the pickling for dummies book Mickey and I discussed and reducing the salt really made a difference. Of course I didnt write down what we did and Minnie doesnt remember. I think we took it down by a fourth a cup.'
When we tried to pickle last year with Cassandra Minnie Me and Mickey we tried to discuss all of the things we had learned and changed. But we just had this Juanitas recipe to follow. We made a few with no pickling spice and a few with less salt added.
I let Ken my husband try one less salt added pickle and the regular recipe he could really taste the difference and preferred the less salt with no pi ckling spice. Its had a strange black pepper taste that was overwhelming.
I know that Cassandra and Minnie say they cant tell any differece until we have the two together I dont think we will konw the verdict for sure.
I think I need to pickle alone or with Mickey this year and try to reduce the salt.
Another.issue that comes up is bringing the hot bath water back to a boil
. After each bath.
Only let jars sit in hot bath for 5 mins to seal the lids don't worry about coming back to a boil when jars are in. WE over cooked one year waiting for them to come back to a boil I did ten min soak today !
making dilly beans today with janelle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)