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Canning Cucumbers
- Thread starter jglass
- Start date
jglass
New member
I made 4 quarts of this one tonight and Im going to make a batch like Kevin's later tonight. I added some red pepper flakes and whole peppercorns to each jar.
Aunt Agnes' Garlic Dill Pickles
I can think of no better contribution a cucumber can make than becoming a pickle! This recipe is another handwritten family cookbook classic from my step-grandmother and great aunt, Agnes (oh, these convoluted Southern families
. It is important to make sure your vinegar is of a high quality--don't go generic. We usually use Heinz brand. Also, this recipe is for 7-8 quarts, so adjust accordingly based on how many cucumbers you have (or their size!).
7 -8 quarts
1 quart vinegar
3 quarts water
1 cup salt
2-3 dozen cucumbers
7-8 teaspoons dill seeds (or 7-8 pinches fresh dill)
7-8 cloves garlic (if cloves are small, 14-16)
Wash and pack your cucumbers in clean jars.
Add 1 tsp dill seed or a pinch of fresh dill and one clove of garlic (if cloves are small, use 2) per quart.
Combine vinegar, water and salt and bring to a boil.
Pour or ladle liquid mixture into jars, then seal and store them for 21 days.
Put in refrigerator and let chill at least 24 hours before opening.
Aunt Agnes' Garlic Dill Pickles
I can think of no better contribution a cucumber can make than becoming a pickle! This recipe is another handwritten family cookbook classic from my step-grandmother and great aunt, Agnes (oh, these convoluted Southern families
. It is important to make sure your vinegar is of a high quality--don't go generic. We usually use Heinz brand. Also, this recipe is for 7-8 quarts, so adjust accordingly based on how many cucumbers you have (or their size!). 7 -8 quarts
1 quart vinegar
3 quarts water
1 cup salt
2-3 dozen cucumbers
7-8 teaspoons dill seeds (or 7-8 pinches fresh dill)
7-8 cloves garlic (if cloves are small, 14-16)
Wash and pack your cucumbers in clean jars.
Add 1 tsp dill seed or a pinch of fresh dill and one clove of garlic (if cloves are small, use 2) per quart.
Combine vinegar, water and salt and bring to a boil.
Pour or ladle liquid mixture into jars, then seal and store them for 21 days.
Put in refrigerator and let chill at least 24 hours before opening.
chubbyalaskagriz
New member
I love a good garlic-dill, janie! Your aunt's recipe sounds fantastic!
jglass
New member
Im sorry I should have been more specific. I found the recipe on
Aunt Agnes' Garlic Dill Pickles Recipe | Recipezaar
It is not actually my aunts recipe..but it is someone's Aunt Agnes's recipe lol.
The look really nice in the jar. I going to try and make about 8 more jars of this one so that I have an even dozen. That with what I have made so far will be plenty pickles for me.
Three out of four haved popped so far.
I did get four pints made using your method with the half brown/half white sugar.
Aunt Agnes' Garlic Dill Pickles Recipe | Recipezaar
It is not actually my aunts recipe..but it is someone's Aunt Agnes's recipe lol.
The look really nice in the jar. I going to try and make about 8 more jars of this one so that I have an even dozen. That with what I have made so far will be plenty pickles for me.
Three out of four haved popped so far.
I did get four pints made using your method with the half brown/half white sugar.
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K
KYHeirloomer
Guest
Somebody want to explain to me how generic vinegar differs from Heinz's? Or even from Kroger's house brand?
chubbyalaskagriz
New member
I can't say there is a difference other than the pretty label. In commercial kitchens we used "Distilled Vinegar". No fancy names. Every recipe turned out just as good.
Of course we used other viinegars too- and they tended to have actual name-brands and labels, but they tended to at least appear to be more obscure, less-often heard of names.
Of course we used other viinegars too- and they tended to have actual name-brands and labels, but they tended to at least appear to be more obscure, less-often heard of names.
K
KYHeirloomer
Guest
That was my very point, Chubby. White vinegar, at 5% acidity, is white vinegar, and it doesn't matter what name is on the label.
I think this was just another case of food snobbery on the part of the original poster---who'd Aunt Agness made no such differentiation.
I get pretty testy when I run into that sort of snottiness. To be sure, there are times when price and label do make a difference in quality. But it's not universally true by any means. Indeed, sometimes the low-priced spread is actually better than the high-end, much touted brand. And sometimes price is the only difference---as with white vinegar.
In those cases, only a fool or a snob would opt away from the generic, IMO.
I think this was just another case of food snobbery on the part of the original poster---who'd Aunt Agness made no such differentiation.
I get pretty testy when I run into that sort of snottiness. To be sure, there are times when price and label do make a difference in quality. But it's not universally true by any means. Indeed, sometimes the low-priced spread is actually better than the high-end, much touted brand. And sometimes price is the only difference---as with white vinegar.
In those cases, only a fool or a snob would opt away from the generic, IMO.
CanMan
New member
There's not that much of a difference, other than perhaps flavor, like for salads. Some of your generic vinegars are a little harsher, but work great for pickling. But you need to taste them. Price is not always the quality.
Distilled White Vinegar and Apple Cider Vinegar are regulated today to 5% acidity and most other vinegars are fairly close to that same level. Our grandparents used to use vinegars that were from 7% to 18% or more (homemade), which is another reason why old recipes should not be used. It would not be acidic enough to be safe.
Distilled White Vinegar and Apple Cider Vinegar are regulated today to 5% acidity and most other vinegars are fairly close to that same level. Our grandparents used to use vinegars that were from 7% to 18% or more (homemade), which is another reason why old recipes should not be used. It would not be acidic enough to be safe.
K
KYHeirloomer
Guest
CanMan, there are lots of reasons why old-time canning methods and recipes might not be safe. But the way you phrased it could be misleading.
A vinegar that's 18% acidic is more than three-times as acidic as modern store-bought stuff. So, presuming the old-time recipe cut back on the amount of vinegar, then modern stuff could, indeed, be too weak.
However, that wasn't usually the case. Back in the day they preferred a sharper, more sour taste then we do today. And so, in terms of quantitites, there was much more vinegar in the pickling brine then there is in modern recipes. In addition, they were less likely to cut it with water.
So much so that we would likely find their pickles to be nearly inedible.
Here, for instance, is Mary Randolph's 1823 recipe:
"To Pickle Cucumbers:
Gather them full grown, but quite young--take off the green rind, and slice them tolerably thick; put a layer in a deep dish, strew over it some chopped onion and salt; do this until they are all in; sprinkle salt on the top, let them stand six hours, put them in a colander---when all the liquor has runoff, put them in a pot, strew a little cayenne pepper over each layer, and cover them with strong cold vinegar; when the pot is full, pour on some sweet oil and tie it up close; at the end of a fortnight, pour off the first vinegar and put in fresh"
Mary Randolph's vinegar would likely have tested at 20%.
Once you translate that into modern English, the Ball Blue Book has a recipe that is virtually the same. Only significant difference is that the BBB calls for 2 cups of modern (5%) vinegar mixed with two gallons of water. Which makes for a pretty thin brine, compared to Ms Randolph's. And the vinegar isn't changed after two weeks.
Just for the record, that works out at .125% acidity, and Ball is counting on the salt to perform a lactic acid fermentation. However, if you followed Randolph's recipe, using modern vinegar, you would have 5% acidity working along with the salt for the same lactic acid fermentation. And you'd be refreshing the acid as well.
The general rule of thumb, in modern canning, is to mix up to one cup of water with one cup of vinegar. Which means you can dilute it to about 2.5% and still have what every food scientist in the world considers a safe acid level. That being the case, there is nothing unsafe about the Randolph recipe. Nor many---perhaps most---old time recipes.
The trick is understanding the processes involved, rather than slavishly following the mandates of a government agency that has proven itself inept time after time.
A vinegar that's 18% acidic is more than three-times as acidic as modern store-bought stuff. So, presuming the old-time recipe cut back on the amount of vinegar, then modern stuff could, indeed, be too weak.
However, that wasn't usually the case. Back in the day they preferred a sharper, more sour taste then we do today. And so, in terms of quantitites, there was much more vinegar in the pickling brine then there is in modern recipes. In addition, they were less likely to cut it with water.
So much so that we would likely find their pickles to be nearly inedible.
Here, for instance, is Mary Randolph's 1823 recipe:
"To Pickle Cucumbers:
Gather them full grown, but quite young--take off the green rind, and slice them tolerably thick; put a layer in a deep dish, strew over it some chopped onion and salt; do this until they are all in; sprinkle salt on the top, let them stand six hours, put them in a colander---when all the liquor has runoff, put them in a pot, strew a little cayenne pepper over each layer, and cover them with strong cold vinegar; when the pot is full, pour on some sweet oil and tie it up close; at the end of a fortnight, pour off the first vinegar and put in fresh"
Mary Randolph's vinegar would likely have tested at 20%.
Once you translate that into modern English, the Ball Blue Book has a recipe that is virtually the same. Only significant difference is that the BBB calls for 2 cups of modern (5%) vinegar mixed with two gallons of water. Which makes for a pretty thin brine, compared to Ms Randolph's. And the vinegar isn't changed after two weeks.
Just for the record, that works out at .125% acidity, and Ball is counting on the salt to perform a lactic acid fermentation. However, if you followed Randolph's recipe, using modern vinegar, you would have 5% acidity working along with the salt for the same lactic acid fermentation. And you'd be refreshing the acid as well.
The general rule of thumb, in modern canning, is to mix up to one cup of water with one cup of vinegar. Which means you can dilute it to about 2.5% and still have what every food scientist in the world considers a safe acid level. That being the case, there is nothing unsafe about the Randolph recipe. Nor many---perhaps most---old time recipes.
The trick is understanding the processes involved, rather than slavishly following the mandates of a government agency that has proven itself inept time after time.
jglass
New member
Aunt Agnes' Garlic Dill Pickles are pretty dang good.
I had Cole try them yesterday when she came and she gave them a 9 1/2 out of 10.
I gave her a quart to take home with them and she just emailed she had been eating them all day. Im def going to make more of that one. I already finished one quart of them myself.
It has rained for the last two days so there should be more cucumbers in the garden tomorrow.
Im gonna open a jar of the Sweet Pickle Spears next.
I had Cole try them yesterday when she came and she gave them a 9 1/2 out of 10.
I gave her a quart to take home with them and she just emailed she had been eating them all day. Im def going to make more of that one. I already finished one quart of them myself.
It has rained for the last two days so there should be more cucumbers in the garden tomorrow.
Im gonna open a jar of the Sweet Pickle Spears next.
chubbyalaskagriz
New member
Does everybody remember the episode of The Andy Griffith Show where Aunt Bea makes a batch of pickles that none of the guys like? Of course they remain polite and to her face tell her that they're absolutely delicious and that they LOVE them! So, based on their rave reviews, Aunt Bea enters them into the County Fair! Well, you can imagine and likely remember all the zany craziness that ensues if you saw that one years ago! Ha!
jglass
New member
I remember that episode. We watch Andy and MASH on tvland all the time.
I wish I could get away with that around here.
Unfortunately for me they all speak their minds about what I make and hang my poor feelings lol. Jons Dad and brother are the worst. God help you if you ask them to try a cornbread recipe with sugar in it. I had my little sister try the pickles here. She would have told me straight up if they were bad. I liked them myself and Im pretty picky.
I wish I could get away with that around here.
Unfortunately for me they all speak their minds about what I make and hang my poor feelings lol. Jons Dad and brother are the worst. God help you if you ask them to try a cornbread recipe with sugar in it. I had my little sister try the pickles here. She would have told me straight up if they were bad. I liked them myself and Im pretty picky.
chubbyalaskagriz
New member
janie, I haven't written about it much here yet- but I did at another site... I have a family made up entriely of finicky eaters. My family have actually broken my heart more than once with things they won't try, things they don't like, things they have literally spit-out (we're talking adults, here!) and comments they make, and such... As a foody, I don't really truly like everything- but I could never be rude enuf not to taste something- and if somone goes to the trouble and expense to cook for me, I can certainly fake it for them- to spare their feelings. My family? Nope. They believe in total honesty- even if it's brutal! That's just their way. Their palettes aren't very sophistocated either, so what I'm able to cook and share with them is pretty limited. They also watch pro-wrestling... these two things combined make me think maybe I was adopted!
jglass
New member
If you were my brother I think I would be pulling any trick I could think of to get invited to dinner as much as possible.
Jons brother looks like Cooter from Dukes of Hazzard and sounds like a hillbilly Eeyore and watches bull riding. He does a fair amount of bull flinging if he can get anyone to listen to his tall tales. That little sucker always suprises me with how keen of a sense of taste he has considering he smokes about three packs a day.
Oh yeah..I dont have to be adopted.
I would settle for belonging to the mailman..paperman..milkman
Jons brother looks like Cooter from Dukes of Hazzard and sounds like a hillbilly Eeyore and watches bull riding. He does a fair amount of bull flinging if he can get anyone to listen to his tall tales. That little sucker always suprises me with how keen of a sense of taste he has considering he smokes about three packs a day.
Oh yeah..I dont have to be adopted.
I would settle for belonging to the mailman..paperman..milkman
chubbyalaskagriz
New member
I know janie- I'm right there with ya. I feel your pain! There are some mighty good mail men out there with hearty appetites who'd love a good home cooked meal! Ha!
jglass
New member
I got about 10 -12 pounds of cucumbers last night. Some of them are pretty big. Im gonna use the smaller ones to make more pickles.
Jon's Dad wants to can green beans Thur.
Its supposed to be 95+ with high humidity tomorrow. He only has a small air conditioner in his bedroom window. We are going down very early in the morning so I can help him pick and he can teach me how to can with a pressure canner. God help me lol.
I went to Jons aunts yesterday and she gave me a couple really pretty crook neck squash. I stopped by Jons Dads and gave him one and kept the other. Im going to grill mine for dinner.
Jons other uncle was so angry. He had three huge watermelons in his garden and the deer got them all. They had a granny smith apple tree that they had told me to come and get all of the apple I wanted from when they are ready. They were telling Jons Dad that the deer had gotten every one of them they could reach. They had stood on their back legs and jumped to reach as high as they could! The said to tell me the ones in the top of the tree were still there and for me to come get them when they are ready to pick. Its a dwarf tree. Stupid deer..I was really looking forward to drying those apples and putting some in the freezer lol.
Jon's Dad wants to can green beans Thur.
Its supposed to be 95+ with high humidity tomorrow. He only has a small air conditioner in his bedroom window. We are going down very early in the morning so I can help him pick and he can teach me how to can with a pressure canner. God help me lol.
I went to Jons aunts yesterday and she gave me a couple really pretty crook neck squash. I stopped by Jons Dads and gave him one and kept the other. Im going to grill mine for dinner.
Jons other uncle was so angry. He had three huge watermelons in his garden and the deer got them all. They had a granny smith apple tree that they had told me to come and get all of the apple I wanted from when they are ready. They were telling Jons Dad that the deer had gotten every one of them they could reach. They had stood on their back legs and jumped to reach as high as they could! The said to tell me the ones in the top of the tree were still there and for me to come get them when they are ready to pick. Its a dwarf tree. Stupid deer..I was really looking forward to drying those apples and putting some in the freezer lol.
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K
KYHeirloomer
Guest
I tried growing parsnips for several years to no avail, Janie. Seems like parsnip tops are the second favorite food for the deer around here. The tops would be beautiful when I went to bed, eaten down to the ground the next morning.
I used to tell people that I didn't really like venison. It was just my way of getting to eat my parsnips.
I'll be very happy to come out with my crew this fall and help thin out those deer for you. We can both get to eat your apples that way.
I used to tell people that I didn't really like venison. It was just my way of getting to eat my parsnips.
I'll be very happy to come out with my crew this fall and help thin out those deer for you. We can both get to eat your apples that way.