Summertime Pickles

Pickles! Sweet pickles, sour pickles, bread 'n butter, dill pickles, lime pickles, frigerator pickles (that's short for refrigerator if y'all didn't know that word!) There are so many different varieties, types, and flavors of pickles out there! There are even pickled ocra, pickled green beans, pickled eggs, and my favorite, pickled pigs feet! (Nah just kidding, I wouldn't eat pigs feet fried, boiled, grilled, steamed, or pickled. No thank you ma'am.) Maybe we have a pickle obsession?!

Our cucumbers did not yield as much this year as we saw in 2015. I think I was only able to make about seven jars of cucumber pickles. I also made squash relish and spicy squash pickles! My mom fell in love with the cucumber lime pickles (made from lime the mineral, not lime the citrus fruit) during one of her visits here. These lime pickles are sweet yet not syrupy, and the crispest, crunchiest pickle you've ever had grace your mouth! Plus they stay a really lovely bright shade of green, not the dark overcooked sogginess that some pickles get.

Different pickles have different seasonings. When I first made the cucumber lime pickles, the instructions on the bag of lime said to use "pickling spice". So of course I had to google it to see just what this was and how I could make it at home (right now) to continue forth with my summer pickle fiesta.

To make your own pickling spice, here are your necessary ingredients.

Pickling Spice

• 2 tablespoons whole mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon whole allspice berries
• 2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 6 whole cloves

Place mustard seeds, allspice berries, whole coriander seeds, and red pepper flakes into a small glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake to combine. Add ground ginger to seeds and shake again. Sprinkle crumbled bay leaves over spice mixture and place cinnamon stick halves into the jar. Seal and shake to combine. Mixture can be stored in the tightly sealed jar for up to 1 month without loss of flavor.

Check out all the recipes on this blog here!

If you have never tried making your own pickles, I encourage you to try it! Come on over and we'll do 'em together! If you grow cucumbers or can get your hands on some fresh, homegrown cukes then by all means - do it! Even if you've never canned anything before, you can make pickles! Start out with a fairly easy refrigerator pickle that requires no canning - just make the pickles, put them in the jars, and make room in the fridge!

We have cucumbers growing in the garden right now, so I hope the fall season will produce many more cucumbers and many more jars of pickles in my pantry!

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means waste of time."

~John Lubbock, "Recreation," The Use of Life, 1894

Make the most of today!

Cheers,
Ramsey