Pickle Time!
Farm to Table Kids’ Kosher Pickle and Dilly Beans Recipes
Go ahead and be the most popular person at your next summer cookout with these babies in hand!
All the Farm to Table Kids Gardens are exploding with happy, loved, vibrant organic produce…yaaay (great job lil farmers)! This week the kids have been harvesting baskets of green beans and cucumbers and moms have been asking me about pickling this fresh goodness. And I love those questions, because I LOVE to can! I basically grow my 4 acre garden just so I can – can… get it? (lil play on words there).
People ask me all the time if I’m afraid of gifting botulism to someone when I give them a lovely jar of garden fresh relish. The answer is, “NO! – but I used to be!” Before I became educated about canning, I didn’t even consider canning because I was afraid something would go wrong. But I take it very seriously and as long as you follow the rules, and use common sense, the results are awesomely gratifying and delicious! It is also super fun to can with children, my 4-year-old loves to prepare the mason jars with the herbs and garlic…very empowering & educational!
Canning
Here are a few of my cornerstone ground rules and recommendations (for water bath canning):
Go buy the “Ball Blue Book of Preserving” it’s actually not a book; it’s a magazine that you can buy at your local grocery store/book store. There are so many great canning cookbooks available for recipe ideas, but the Ball Book has a great educational reference and “beginners” explanation of the do’s and don’ts that is worth the read.
Materials you need are basic and also available at your local grocery store: a water bath “pot” is the deep seafood/lobster pots you see at many stores, plus a jar holder (to grab the jars to put in/out of the boiling water), and mason jars with lids
Don’t cut corners – take time to follow the rules to keep a clean and sterile work area:
Be sure to sterilize your jars prior to filling them with your pickling/jams (this just means you place them in your pot of simmering water while you prepare your pickles/jams).
Fill the jars to the appropriate level as described in your recipe.
Use freshly harvested produce.
Follow the directions and ingredients in the recipe you are using, and only use canning recipes from trusted sources (Ball, freshpreserving.com, Food Network, etc.). I love looking at relishes on Pinterest just as much as the next guy – but unless the recipe is from a trusted source, I don’t touch it. Canning recipes are a delicate balance of pH levels and all ingredients have a purpose. Stick with the recipe!
The Ball Blue Book has great recipes with all natural ingredients – whereas, their website www.freshpreserve.com has a lot of recipes that require their pre-mixed products (such as their pickling mix, or salsa mix), but the book recipes don’t reference the mixes.
Blah, blah, blahhh – let’s get back to the pickles!
Here is one of my go-to pickle recipes that has simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry, plus some fresh yummy cukes from your garden or local farmer’s market!
Dill Pickles Recipe (& Kosher Pickles Recipe)
From the Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Yields 7 pints or 3 quarts
Ingredients:
8 Lbs cucumbers (cut to your preference)
¾ Cups sugar
½ Cup canning salt
1 Quart vinegar
1 Quart water
1 Tablespoon mixed pickling spice (on your grocery store shelf)
Fresh or dry dill (1 head per jar)
Method:
Clean and wash your cucumbers thoroughly. Cut them into any shape you wish (circles, spears, halved) I just made a batch of sandwich pickles (the lengthwise skinny ones). Combine sugar, salt, vinegar and water in large saucepot. Tie spices in a spice bag and put in vinegar mixture; simmer 15 minutes. Pack cucumbers in hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace, put one head of dill in each jar; ladle hot vinegar mixture into jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Top with lid. Process pints and quarts 15 minutes in boiling water bath.
For Kosher Style Pickles
To each jar add 1 bay leaf, 1 clove garlic, 1 piece hot red pepper, and ½ teaspoon mustard seed
Process as detailed above.
Dilly Beans Recipe
Here is the recipe I use, it is from a great book called, "Serving Up the Harvest" by Andrea Chesman. The recipes are simple, but abundant and a useful tool for quick, easy harvest preserving recipes (not just canning, but cooking/baking, etc.).
This recipe is designed to be multiplied by however many beans you happen to have on hand.
* Makes 1 Pint
Ingredients
1 Cup white vinegar
1/2 Cup water
1 Garlic clove
1 Dill head or 4-inch sprig of fresh dill
1 Teaspoon pickling salt
2 Cups green beans trimmed to fit in jar
Method
Bring vinegar and water to a boil in nonreactive saucepan. Meanwhile, pack each clean, hot canning jar with the garlic, dill and salt. Pack in the green beans, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Pour the hot brine over the beans, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal. Process in boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Cool, undisturbed for 12 hours. Store in a cool, dry place. Or, omit the canning step and leave in refrigerator. Do not open the jars for 6 weeks to allow the flavors to develop.
Have fun preserving your harvest! And let your kids join in on the fun...it's an impactful way to teach children how to respect and preserve our summer goods!