It’s pickling time. Kirby pickles are plentiful right now so take advantage of it. Visit your local farmers market or stand to find them.
Kirby pickles are my cucumber of choice. They are smaller and have a thin skin to easily absorb the brine. They easily fit in jars and stay crisp.
Regular and English type cucumbers are great for salads, but their skin is so thick that they have to be peeled. Kirby’s don’t.
Kirby’s can also be used just like a large cucumber but without the labor of peeling them. Take a form and score them down the sides for a fancier look.
Pickles are an easy entry into the realm of canning. The secret to all canning is hot, hot, hot. Hot jars, hot jar centers, and of course hot filling. Rules to live by.
Oh, and organization is key. You need to keep everything hot so don’t waste time. Have everything ready in an assembly line.
You don’t really need to buy fancy canning pots. All you really need is large pots. One to boil your jars and one to cook your pickles. You’ll also need a smaller pot to heat your ring centers.
My pickle of choice is the Break and Butter Pickle. The smell of this brings me right back to my childhood.
KAY’S BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES
(This is my mother’s recipe. I might be shunned for giving this out.)
This makes four quarts.
1 gallon “cukes”
10 small onions
½ c. salt
2 qts. ice
For the brine:
5 c. sugar
½ tsp. ground cloves
1 ½ tsp. turmeric
2 tbsp. mustard seed
½ tsp. celery seed
3 ½ c. brown vinegar
1 ½ c. water
Start with clean jars with matching centers and rings. These can be bought at most hardware and grocery stores.
Wash your pickles and trim off the ends. Use a slicer or mandolin and slice enough to make one gallon. Next, slice the onions. If you are using larger onions, I recommend cutting them in half before slicing.
Put them both in a large bowl or pot and mix with ½ cup salt and ice. Put a weighted lid on top of them and let them sit for at least three hours.
In the meantime, mix and warm your brine so that the sugar melts. After the pickles crisps, drain the mixture, put them in a pot and add your brine.
Place on low heat until it scalds (tiny bubbles around the edge). Do NOT boil them. It will make them soggy. Edible, but soggy.
Your canning jars should have been covered in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Do the same with the jar centers.
To make cleaning up easier, have a dish under the jars as you fill them. Have a wet cloth to wipe the rims, and a clean dish towel to put the filled jars on. They might be sticky from the brine.
Once the pickles are scalding, use tongs to bring a jar out of the water. Put it on the dish and fill it with the pickle mixture. Wipe the top edge of the jar before placing a hot center on it, and screw the ring on tight. Set aside on the towel to cool.
While they are cooling you should hear a click. That means that the jar has sealed. The tiny bulge in the middle of the centers will have sunken down. If after a few hours it hasn’t, just put the pickles in the refrigerator to eat now.
For refrigerator dill pickles, you can buy a complete packet of mix, such as Mrs. Wage’s, and follow the directions on the back.
Or you can make our own dill pickles.
EASY REFRIGERATOR DILL PICKLES
3 c. water
3/4 c. white vinegar
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. kosher salt
6 small cucumbers
8 sprigs fresh dill
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
2 tbsp. pickling spice (found at grocery stores)
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, vinegar, granulated sugar, and 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Wash the cucumbers and cut each into 4 spears for a total of 24 spears. If the cucumbers are too tall to stand up in the jars without sticking out the top, trim off one end of each so they’re the right size for the jars. Fill each clean jar with cucumbers.
Push the fresh dill sprigs down into the jars between the cucumbers. Add the sliced garlic and pickling spices to the jars.
Pour the warm brine evenly into the jars and seal each jar with a lid.
Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. Keep refrigerated for up to one month.
https://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.com/refrigerator-dill-pickles
REALLY EASY PICKLES
You can even make pickles with leftover store bought pickle brine.
Wash and clean your fresh pickles. You can either use the old juice cold, or boil it and cool it slightly.
Pack the pickles in the clean jar as slices or spears and pour the brine over them. Seal the jar and put them in the refrigerator. The pickles will be ready in a few hours to a week.
Yes, pickle cupcakes.
PICKLE CUPCAKES
For the cupcakes
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1/4 c. pickle juice
1/4 c. chopped pickles
For the frosting
1/2 c. butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. powdered sugar
3 tbsp. bourbon
Pinch salt
Pickle slices, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350° and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat until combined. Add sour cream and pickle juice and beat until evenly mixed.
Then stir in the flour mixture and chopped pickles until just combined.
Scoop about a ¼ cup of the batter into each cupcake liner and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the frosting: In a large bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, bourbon, and salt and beat until smooth.
Spread frosting onto each cupcake and garnish with a pickle slice.
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a56102/pickle-cupcakes-recipe
