Canning Jars - Locally

I finally found a local hardware store that carries canning supplies!  So I stocked up with scooping up 3 cases! This hardware store only carries the jars once a year, and they don't carry that many cases.  If I had the space, I think I would have bought every single case.  hahaha.  I've complained about it before in previous blog posts.  It is so difficult to find canning jars in Staten Island.  The only place I was able to find them was AC Moore, but they charge $1.99 a jar.  Um, no way!  That would mean a case would cost $24!  Forgetaboutit!  I found these cases for $9.99. It's the same price as the Ball website, but at least I don't have to pay for shipping! 

Thank goodness I got the jars, because I have been busy canning the harvests.  I did a whole case of pint size jarred pickles.  And some heirloom tomato salsa.  Yum!  Canning season has begun!

The Results of Trading

Today, on my way home, some giant storm clouds were following me.  Don't these look ominous?  It's been raining a lot these last two days, and the garden has been loving it.  And thank goodness, because with the rain we are finally getting some really good veggies forming.  It's been a slow moving growing season, so I am eager to harvest some goodies.

I have really enjoyed trading seeds and plants this year with fellow garden bloggers.  It's such a great way to try out a new variety in the garden without committing to buying a whole seed packet or new plants.  I received some white cucumber seeds from Chronicles of a Frugal Gardener.  These are definitely interesting looking.  They taste the same as regular cukes.  The coloring is definitely cool.  I definitely want to grow these again next year. 

I also got some Sweet Lilac pepper seeds from  Bucolic Bushwick.  Here's the first pepper on the plant.  I am loving this color.  I don't see any other fruits forming.  I hope more peppers grow soon.

Bucolic Bushwick and I also did a plant swap earlier in the growing season.  I'm so loving that the Fairy Tale Eggplants are setting out fruits now. The eggplants are so pretty.  I love the white marbling on the purple skin!  I can't wait to try these!

Here is today's harvest!  It's the largest one we've had to date.  10 cucumbers!  Ten!  Do you see how blaring white the white cuke is at the bottom?  Hehe. I did a happy dance because now I can make a batch of pickles.  Awesome!!  I also harvested some radishes, yardlong beans, snap peas, and my first real sized Scarlet Nantes carrot. The carrot took quite a long time to size up, and in fact, it could have been in the ground a little longer.  It had a nice sweet taste, I definitely want to grow these again.

And here are the sweet dill pickles that I made tonight.  I made these as refrigerator pickles, and should wait 10 days before eating them.  I don't know if I can wait that long.

I Grew a Mutant Cucumber!

Cucumbers are coming in at a steady rate now. I'm picking about one cucumber every other day.  I've been using the cucumbers in sandwiches, I should save them until I have enough cucumbers to make Sweet Dill Pickles!

In the midst of the cucumber vine, I did find a weirdly shaped discolored cucumber.  Check out the one on the left.  It looks like such a mutant!  Not only is it an orangey color, it's round!!  It came off the same vine as the one on the right.  I did a Google search on why cucumbers turn this orangey color, and the search revealed that cucumbers turn this color when they are on the vine too long and over ripe.  They are still edible despite the weird color but they might taste bitter.  I tasted the orange cucumber and it tasted just fine.  It wasn't bitter at all, so it went into my sandwich for lunch.

Sweet Dill Pickle Recipe

Many of you have asked for my Sweet and Spicy Dill Pickle Recipe. I'm so sorry in the delay of posting. I actually had this in my draft folder and never hit "publish". Then the Frugal Gardener reminded me of it. This is the BEST pickle recipe I've ever had. Seriously good stuff! I like it so much, I use it for dilly beans too.
PS -> if you do like spicy food, do add the spicy peppers, it adds such a kick. And if you don't have habaneros, use jalapenos or your spicy pepper of choice.

PPS -> If you do this as refrigerator pickles, I never have the patience to wait the 10 days, I usually pop open the jar by day 3. It's still so good!!

I do an adaptation of the recipe that is found here.
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/spicy-refrigerator-dill-pickles/Detail.aspx


Sweet Dill Pickles Recipe

Ingredients
8 - 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers like kirbys
2 cups water
1 3/4 cups white vinegar
6 sprigs of chopped fresh dill weed
1/2 cup white sugar
8 cloves garlic, chopped (it has a strong garlic taste, you can add less if you don't like garlic, like sometimes I add only 5 cloves)
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse Diamond kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
3 additional sprigs fresh dill weed for jars
(optional) - for extra kick, I added 1/2 of a habanero pepper - it makes it a bit spicy, omit if you don't like spice.
(optional) - 1 medium sliced onion

Directions
1. Sterilize your jars and lids by boiling in hot water for 10 minutes.
2. Remove jars from hot water bath. Be careful, HOT.
3. Prep cucumber. Slice cucumbers into chips for sandwiches, or cut as spears or leave whole. I like to put my pickles in sandwiches so I slice them into 1/4 inch chips.
4.In a large bowl, combine the all the ingredients. Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.
5. Remove the cucumbers to three 1 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing cucumbers into each jar. Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover. Leave 1/2 inch headspace at top of jar. Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids. Refrigerate for 10 days before eating. Use within 1 month.

Alternatively, you can also do this as a hot water bath, in which you can put the jars back in the pot of water. Make sure the jars are immersed in water and boil for 12-15 minutes. Remove jars and let cool. It should vacuum seal. Should last up to 1 year.

Perfecting my newest obsession

I'm only getting a few cucumbers from my plants now. Most of the plants have died, I have 2 left from the summer crops that are still producing. I planted new seedlings for fall crops. We'll see if they produce anything. I went out to the store and bought another 5 cukes so I could make... Crinkle Cut Pickles. I bought this crinkle cutter some time ago, I like to use it to make fancy looking cut veggies.

Fancy right?

For this batch, I made them way too spicy. I added a whole ripe habanero rather than half. Whoa, spicy. I don't think I'll do that again, it was hot, hot, hot!

This batch only made 2 jars. I kept one and gave the other one to my cousin. She ate the whole jar in two days!! Haha! I guess she likes pickles.