Individual Actions

This is a page to post individual actions on–what steps are you taking to conserve resources and help others?

We’re in a Pickle!

"Double, double, toil and trouble; burner heat and cauldron bubble..."

Ever since Heifer, I’ve been trying to be a little more aware of my consumption habits, the packaging on my purchases, and where my food comes from.  In a fit of homesteading-do-it-yourselfness (or, perhaps, insanity), I decided that we could save money, be healthier, and use fewer resources if we made our own pickles instead of buying them.

Thankfully, we have a steady supplier of garden produce.  Plymouth’s Director of Adult Education, Rev. Mark Lee, and his partner Ivan keep the staff well-stocked throughout the summer with delicious garden delights.  We like to call it the Mark and Ivan CSA.  After a generous bag of cucumbers and a recipe, we were set.

Sassy kitty "helps" us sterilize the jars...

We sliced and boiled and sterilized the jars with hot, soapy water in the sink (we also poured a boiling kettle of water over them to be safe).

The recipe was for curried pickles, a specialty of Ivan’s mom.  Let me tell you, these taste, (as one of my youth delightfully put it), “like a dill pickle and sweet pickle had a baby and it was this.”  Delicious.

The most nerve-wracking part for me was screwing the lids onto the jars and waiting for the lids to pop so that we knew they were sealed.  They keep longer that way, apparently…and when you hear that little “pop!”, it’s like knowing there’s a present waiting for you a few months from now.

Oooh...so pretty!

Recipe for do-it-yourself dills (we made more pickles a few days later…these were dills, so I’m going to share the knowledge with you):

Preparation:

• clean & slice cucumbers, let stand in cold water for a few hours
• sterilize your quart jars in hot water

Make brine:

• bring 6 quarts of water to a boil
• add in 1 tsp. podered alum
• 2 scant c. canning salt
• 1 quart white vinegar

Fill jars:

• pack in drained cucumber slices
• put in one or two cloves of garlic
• put in one or two heads of dill
• pour in boiling brine
• screw on lids and wait for the pop

It takes a few months for these to cure, so set them back on a shelf and forget them for a little while.  Also…I found out today that if you want crispy pickles, you can substitute a grape leaf for the alum.