"Prepare Canner, Jars and Lids"

I realized recently that I've been writing "Prepare canner, jars and lids" on a lot of my posts, but I think I have yet to explain what that means, so in an effort to be helpful I'll make it easy (and then go back and link here from all my posts).  Basically this is a "Canning 101" type post, so I'll explain everything.

Preparing Canner:

The canner is the big pot that you get.  They're really cheap, likely because they're not made to put anything into but water (so please don't try cooking in one).  They come with a rack for jars that you lower into a hot water bath, and also a set of tongs to lift hot jars out of the water.

All you need to do to prepare the canner is put water into it (enough that you'll completely cover all the jars once you lower them in), and put it on the stove to come to a boil. 

I should also note...  the cheap canners you can buy at your local big box store can't be used on induction cooktops or any flat top surfaces.  I understand that for those types of cooktops you need to have a pot that has an entirely flat bottom, and a canner doesn't have that.  You can buy flat-bottomed canners, but they do cost more.  I knew there was some benefit to having a coil cooktop. 

Preparing Jars:

You need to sterilize and heat your jars.  Sterilize to kill bacteria, and heat them up so that when you pour hot stuff into them and stick them into boiling water that they won't break.  I do this in the dishwasher.  A regular cycle with a heated dry does the trick.  Just make sure you time it so you can use them hot (feel free to take them out before waiting for the dry cycle to finish, as long as they're reasonably dry.)

Preparing Lids:

I don't usually do anything with the rings, since they're on the outside of the seal, so other than making sure they are clean and not rusty, they just wait until they're needed.  The seals also need to be sterilized and warmed up (to soften the rubber part of the seal).  You can't do this in the dishwasher because it will degrade the rubber, so I do this in a small pot with water.  I bring it to a boil, and then turn off the heat, letting the seals sit in there to stay warm until they're needed.

A note on pressure canning. 

There is also a type of canning for "low acid foods" but I'm not really familiar with that personally (I have yet to need it, since I don't have a garden of veggies to store, or the cash to buy a pressure canner), but you can go here for more information on that.

My pantry runneth over.

You should really invite me to dinner.

I love to entertain, so I don't get invited out all that much.  I like to cook, and people seem to like my cooking (since they come back time and again) and honestly, sometimes when I get invited somewhere else, I miss being able to spoil my friends and family.  I came up with a solution...  this is it:

The Host/Hostess Gift!

In my pantry is a shelf of delectables just waiting all Martha-Stewart-style, including (but not limited to) blueberry jam, blueberry sauce, strawberry sauce, strawberry syrup, black velvet apricot jam, raspberry jelly, praline syrup, spiced honey, curried ketchup, and cranberry mustard.  They're even labelled and decorated already!  (btw, I love the idea of using circles of scrapbook paper under the jar rings to add some pizazz)

I'm still planning on adding to this stash, since I have yet to make anything with the chokecherries and highbush cranberries growing on my property, or with my mom-in-law's apples, and I have plans for BBQ sauces and salsas.

I'm going to spoil you if you come to my house or not.  *evil cackle*

Condimentally speaking...

Making condiments is really weird.

I cook a lot, and one of the things you do as a cook is taste, taste, taste.  I've been trying my hand at inventing a recipe for curried ketchup (modifying a standard ketchup recipe and throwing in some curry), and also following a recipe for cranberry mustard (recipes to follow).  My last attempt at curried ketchup was a dismal failure (I'll save that story for later.), so I was diligently tasting my ketchup as it got close to being the right consistency.  I kept sticking in a spoon (a clean one of course), and tasting, and my immediate reaction was always the same "wow, that's a strong flavour"

Well, of course it is, you're not making soup, you're eating ketchup with a spoon.

Next time I'll have to cook up a sausage to try it with.

Say WHA?!

I was at Costco a few days ago, buying some food, when I came across something interesting in the produce department.  Black Velvet Apricots.

I hailed my mom, and we had a conversation similar to this:

Suzie:  Hey mom, look at these!  Black Velvet Apricots!

Mom:  Those are plums.

Suzie:  No, they're apricots

Mom:  Apricots aren't purple.

Suzie:  Plums aren't fuzzy.  Plus, look...  it says "APRICOTS" on the package.

Needless to say, I bought them.  I can't say no to weird produce.  Plus, it said on the package that it is a "limited edition" so how could I leave them?  Next year they might make apricots pink and I would have missed out on the purple ones all together.

I was excited to try one.  Guess what, it tastes like fruit.  I don't really eat apricots normally, so I have no idea how they taste...  they were sweet and juicy, quite delicious.  Of course, I had about 40 of them (hooray for bulk buying) plus plums, nectarines, cherries and bananas...  so there was nothing else to do but make Black Velvet Apricot JAM!

Husband:  You know... you could just eat fruit and not make jam out of it.

Suzie:  (laughs)

He doesn't know me at ALL does he?  Not to mention, since these are a limited edition, my jam is going to be worth some coin when all people have are boring old orange apricots.

Black Velvet Apricot Jam

3 cups pureed, pitted apricots (leave the skin on)
1/4 cup lemon juice
7 cups sugar
1 pkg liquid pectin. 

Mix first three ingredients well in a large pot, bring to a boil. Once you can no longer stir down the bubbles, boil hard for one minute. Take off the heat, add the liquid pectin and stir well. Let stand for a few minutes to help prevent floating fruit, and skim off the foam. Fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, add seals and rings, tighten to finger-tight. Let cool. (as they cool, the seals will pop inwards, if they don't, you do not have a proper seal and jam should be kept in the fridge until eaten).

It turned out to be a really pretty jam...  I think the floating confetti of purple really makes it.

I really shouldn't give you all my big money-making idea, but hey, I'm benevolant like that!

Saucy!

I know I've been on a bit of a strawberry kick these days, but it is the season after all, and it's what I've been doing.  The last 3 days have been pretty much monopolized by the berries (cooking for 2 days, and today, just a straggler batch of jam and a whole lot of cleaning).  I decided this year to try ALL the strawberry recipes that interested me from the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving, so that in future years I'd have an idea of what we liked and would want to make again.  Next on the list was Strawberry Sauce.

If I had to pick a sauce to put on ice cream, it would likely be chocolate, but Husband loves his fruit sauces, so this one was a natural to make. 

9 cups halved hulled strawberries

2/3 cup unsweetened apple juice

1 tbsp grated orange zest

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cups corn syrup

1/2 cup orange juice.

Prepare canner, jars and lids

in a large pot, combine strawberries, apple juice and orange zest, bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, crushing berries with a potato masher.  Gradually add sugar, stirring until completely dissolved.  Add corn syrup and orange juice.  Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for 15 minutes. 

Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, and close jars.

Process in a hot water canner for 10 minutes.  Yield 6-250ml jars

I ended up using lemon juice and zest, because I couldn't be bothered to run out and get an orange if I had lemons at home.  I'm sure no one will notice.   After letting Husband eat my photo sample, I don't think it's going to last too long around our house.

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate.

I bought a book this year.  Well, first I took it out of the library, skimmed through it, and almost immediately went to amazon and bought it.  It arrived almost two weeks before the library book was due back.  It is:

Many of the recipes intrigued me, so I needed to try them out, and since my time copying recipes is worth more than the $15 the book cost, I figured it was a worthwhile investment.

One of the intriguing recipes was the Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate (to note, all the recipes in this book are canned, therefore shelf stable).  I don't have a lot of freezer space (and rapidly decreasing pantry space), I liked the idea of having a juice concentrate that would be happy living on the shelf.  Not to mention, there is nothing better than fresh-picked strawberries, and any way to enjoy that flavour during the year is fine by me!

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

6 cups finely pureed strawberries

6 cups sugar

4 cups lemon juice

Prepare jars by running them through a dishwasher with a heated dry, place seals in warm water to soften.

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and cook over medium-high heat until a thermometer reaches 88ºC (190ºF).  DO NOT BOIL.  Once temperature is reached, remove from heat, let stand for a minute, and skim off any foam.  Ladle into warm jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Seal jars and process in a hot-water canner for 15 minutes.  Yield 6-500ml (pint) jars.

Now, the recipe says that to use, mix 1:1 with water, lemon-lime soda, soda water, etc.  I did mine with water and found it very sweet, so try it out and figure out your own ratio.  I did at least 2 parts water/1 part concentrate and it's still pretty sweet.  (but yummy). 

Strawberry Jam

I think I can count the number of times I've purchased jam on one hand with five fingers left over.  I was a lucky child.  There was never a shortage of homemade jam.  My mom and oma ignored child-labour laws and put us to work in the fields from a young age.  For one morning a year, we'd toil under the hot sun, picking basket upon basket until we were rewarded with McDonalds for lunch, and an afternoon of popsicles while they made jam.  I had a rough childhood.  Even now, with the vast numbers of jams and jellies I have tried, I always gravitate back to strawberry.  It's the only one I'll eat with peanut butter and if you ever receive it as a gift from me, you know you're special, because I don't easily part with it.

Strawberry Jam  (I'm typing this in without looking at the recipe)

Prepare jars by running them through the dishwasher with a heated dry cycle.  Place seals in a pot of hot water to soften.

3.5 cups crushed strawberries
7 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 pkg liquid pectin



Mix first three ingredients well in a large pot, bring to a boil.  Once you can no longer stir down the bubbles, boil hard for one minute.  Take off the heat, add the liquid pectin and stir well.  Let stand for a minute and skim off the foam.  Fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, add seals and rings, tighten to finger-tight.  Let cool. (as they cool, the seals will pop inwards, if they don't, you do not have a proper seal and jam should be kept in the fridge until eaten).

Homemade jam is like a drug.  You get hooked, and you can never go back.  Do it, you know you want to!

It's a good thing I like jam.

pan·de·mo·ni·um  (pnd-mn-m) n. :  Going strawberry picking and making jam when outnumbered 5:4 by 3-and-unders. 

This picture was the beginning of the day.  Please note the smiles, unstained clothing and empty basket.

By the end of the day we had: one missing child (only for a few minutes); two port-a-potty dramas; nine people covered in strawberry, sweat and dirt; one sunburn (mine); four adults with achy muscles (presumably from picking in a crouched position while children crawled on our backs); five children with no proper naps; 12 batches of strawberry jam; four slurpees; five overtired, overstimulated children; and four overworked adults in need of a stiff drink...  oh, and I almost forgot... one burnt potholder.

I didn't really think anything of it.  I've gone strawberry picking since I was a kid, and the idea of picking 16 baskets of berries wasn't daunting in the least.  When picking is good it can go as quickly as an hour and a half, so keeping five kids (two of whom are confined to strollers) busy for that long didn't seem too tough.  Picking wasn't good.  The berries were small, somewhat over-ripe and few and far between.  It took about 4 hours to fill our baskets.  Even a trip to the petting zoo for the three oldest children didn't seem to help much (especially since the two oldest, potty-trained ones were suffering from full bladders and chronic fear of the port-a-potty).  Luckily we had no accidents, though Girl still talks about how she went to the port-a-potty with "no fuss"  (The people outside listening to her blood-curdling screams might disagree. I wouldn't know, I'm deaf now).

I've made jam so many times I can do it without a recipe, but nothing could prepare me for jam-making while at least one of the five kids was screaming at all times.  Somehow we figured out a system, we woman-ed our stations in such a way that there was always a floater to take over for critical positions if the need arose.  Boy, did it ever.  Serenity now.

I think I'm going to need until next year to recover, and let the memories blur into pleasant, happy, fuzzy, strawberry-jam-filled clouds.  I think it's starting already.  Whiskey helps.

Apple Crisp

In my quest to quickly use up my preserves from last year, I focused on the jars of apple pie filling.  I have a lot of them, so they're pretty obvious in my pantry.  I needed to use them up, since I'm pretty sure Husband will have a coronary if I start bringing home apples and still have a whole pantry full of them.  (They're free AND from his mom, so I don't know HOW he could be upset).  I have so many plans for canning this year, so I suppose I should prove that we eat what I make.  Better late than never.

Apple crisp it is!  It's easy, quick, and Husband loves it (I tend to be most partial to desserts that involve chocolate brownies, but I have yet to figure out how to can that.)  Typically I'd make my apple crisp with fresh apples, but man, this was easier.  I suppose one could argue that I did all the work last fall, but that would assume my prior kitchen antics were considered work.
I buttered a casserole dish, and added 1 500ml (pint) jar of apple pie filling.

Then, I made the crumble.

2 Tbsp melted butter

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2/3 cup rolled oats  

Dump it on top of the apple pie filling, and spread to roughly cover.

Bake at 350º until bubbly and browning on top (maybe 15-20 min).  My mom and second-in-line-resident-apple-crisp-expert said this apple crisp is better, because doing it with fresh apples, you often can't cook down the apples long enough before the crumble is overdone, so this has a better consistency


I wanted to take a nice picture of the finished product, but unfortunately...

...Husband got to it first.

Smoked roasted red pepper salad.

In light of the start of jam/canning/preserving season, I stood staring into my pantry.  The jam cupboards were bare (make a mental note to make more this year), but pretty much everything else was still there, staring me in the face, reminding me of the winter of morning sickness, cold and flu sickness and general fatigue.  The few jars of peaches that were left fermented, and their absence was an obvious hole, but it amazed me how little was eaten.  It doesn't really surprise me when I think about it.  I did feel pretty awful, and when you feel sick, the last thing you want to do is experiment in the kitchen.

The jars that taunted me most were the ones full of smoked roasted red peppers, mainly because they were a recipe of my own invention.   I hadn't even cracked a jar to see how they smelled. 

So, I cracked one open.

They smelled devine.

I knew I needed to do something with them.  As a child, I remembered my mom making a pickled roasted red pepper salad, and I figured adding the smoky element would only add to it, so that's what I did.

It's a simple salad dressing, basically a 1:1 ratio of oil and vinegar (I use a light flavoured oil and white vinegar).  Then cut up as many of the pickled red peppers and onions as I want in the salad.  A touch of salt and pepper, and you're good to go.

Luckily I had a bag of mixed fresh salad greens that Husband's aunt picked fresh the day before.  If you don't have an aunt that gives you salad, feel free to get some at the store.  Toss the whole thing together and you've got yourself a salad.

A little feta cheese wouldn't hurt either.  I didn't have any, but hey, I can do that next time, but maybe after I make a pasta, or maybe a pasta salad, or a sandwich spread, or a casserole... or maybe...  well, that's a whole other post.

Smoked roasted red peppers

This was the last of my canning efforts, so I figured I'd throw it up here, since who knows, somewhere along the line I might use these in a recipe.  I have always liked roasted red peppers from a jar, and since I was on a bit of a canning kick, I decided to give it a go.  Of course, I had to modify, so mine are smoked first.  There is very little in the world that can't be made better with a lttle smoke. 

We were in the U.S. a little while ago, saving big money at Menards, and for some crazy reason, Husband thought bring home a sump pump would be better value for our cross-border-shopping-limit than a fancy smoker.  I did however manage to snag a smoker box for the BBQ.

I filled it wh mesquite chips and stuck it on the coals inside the BBQ, and turned on the flame.

I think it took about 20 minutes to go from this to this...

Then, under running water, I peeled of all the skin and washed out the seeds.

leaving me with...

...a pile of roasted red peppers.  These went into jars with some chunks of onion, a few cloves of garlic and the same brine I used for pickles way back when. 

13 cups water

4 cups vinegar

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

(I also did some pickled carrots using the exact same recipe as the pickles, so I did a whole batch of brine, otherwise, I would have cut the recipe down, since there were only 4 jars of red peppers)

Now, unfortunately, I didn't get as much smoke as I had liked from my wood chips (likely since I didn't read the directions before tossing the package) especially after they all started on fire... so I did add a few drops of liquid smoke to each jar before sealing them up.  It smelled AMAZING.

Into a boiling water canner for about 20 minutes and they were done like dinner. 

How 'bout them apples?

Well...  the canner WAS still out. 

I went to the MIL's place yesterday and got some apples from her tree.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but apples is apples, and I don't say no to free fruit. 

I decided to try a canned apple pie filling.  I had done an "apple pie in a jar" before, which turned out to be a dismal failure (completely soupy and terrible for pie) so I didn't have high hopes, but this recipe seems to work a lot better.  I adapted it, so here we go.

Into a pot:

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cornstarch

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

10 cups water

This step would have gone a lot faster if I didn't need to stop and play with the cornstarch.

Cornstarch is fun.

Don't worry if the cinnamon is floating on the top in a yucky scum, it will mix in once it thickens.  For now it'll look like really thin chocolate milk with dirt floating in it.  Bring that up to a simmer, stirring occasionally until it thickens.

I peeled, cored and sliced about 45-50 small/medium apples.  Once the syrup is ready, dump as many apples into it as the pot will fit.  Basically, you just want to heat the apples up a bit in the syrup.  They will cook more in the canner, so you don't need much time.  I waited until the syrup bubbled again and called it done.

With clean, sterilized jars (I run mine through the dishwasher with the heated dry setting), use a slotted spoon to fill them with as many apples as possible.  Don't worry about the syrup yet.  Use a fork to gently push them down into the jar.  The less air between them, the more fruit you fit in.

Once they have as many apples as will fit, use a ladle to fill the jars with syrup to 1/4 inch from the rim.  Wipe the edge of the rim (anything left on the rim will mean a bad seal) and close with lids and rings.

Process 20 minutes in boiling water. 

Once you do the first batch of apples in the syrup, you will have syrup left over.  I just kept adding more of the apples until I ran out of jars (luckily that coincided with running out of syrup). 

Be prepared to get sticky...  this one is messy, but after licking it off my fingers, I'm pretty sure this is going to get gobbled up on oatmeal too.  If you DO manage to save it for pie...  a quart will make a 9 inch pie.  Just dot it with pats of butter and bake in a pie shell for 50 minutes at 400º.

I got 14 jars out of this, and since the apples were free, it cost me a grand total of a few bucks.  WHEE!

**Note:  if you get a jar that's only half-full of apples (as I did) fill up the rest of the jar with syrup and process with the others.  I don't think you should put anything half-full into a canner, and not putting it in will mean the apples won't get the benefit of the cooking time.

Millions of peaches... peaches for me.

I was at the grocery store today, and it was their regular 10% Family Day, where everyone gets 10% off everything (as opposed to Senior's Day).  I also had in my grubby little hands, a coupon saying that if I spent $125, I'd get 500 bonus points in their loyalty program.  I'm a sucker for bonus points.  I didn't need that much (in fact, I have been noticing that my grocery bills have been somewhat lower these days) so I figured I'd find something that was on sale and stock up.

What I found...  was a 20lb box of BC peaches.  Hmmm.  Husband likes canned peaches on his oatmeal for breakfast, and it never ceases to irritate me that once you open the can, you have to look for a container to put the rest of them into.  Having them in a jar means that you can leave open ones in the fridge, and use as much a you need.  I've never made canned peaches...  but I knew it wasn't hard.  I even had jars at home from my fantasies of making canned tomatoes (not gonna happen). 

So, after careful consideration, my sense of adventure won out and I found not only 500 bonus points (725 gets me $5 worth of groceries for free), but my project for Girl's naptime. 

The first thing you need to do is peel the peaches (apparently you don't NEED to, but I figured I'd try it the traditional way before doing something different.)  The easiest way to peel all soft, thin skinned fruits is to have a pot of boiling water and a bowl of icy water.  You pop the peaches into the boiling water for about 20 seconds and then into the cold water.  This will cause the skins to separate from the flsh, and they're easy to scrape off.

Once you have them all peeled, chop them into whatever sized pieces you want.  This proved to be annoying for me.  I think the problem was that the peaches were a little too ripe, and soft.  It worked out ok, but I would have liked cleaner cuts (more like the ones you get in the can).  Mine were all a bit fuzzy.  Since I knew these were mainly going on oatmeal, I went with bite-sized chunks.  I can never find them that way in the store, so Husband is forever cutting slices or halves.

I added some lemon juice at this point to keep them from oxidizing. (For this many I used 1 1/2 big lemons) Next, make a syrup.  You can pack them in juice, but I don't have a ready supply of peach juice, so I went for a light syrup. 

2 1/2 cups sugar

8 cups water

Simmer until all the sugar has melted and then I popped as many peaches in as would fit in the pot. I had heard that using the hot-pack method (where you heat the peaches) was the best, but if I hadn't done that, I could have just stuck the fresh peaches into the jars, and poured the syrup over. (Either one will work). Once they were warmed through, I used a slotted spoon and filled the jars with peach chunks, and then poured syrup over to fill the jar to 1/4 inch below the rim.

Clean off the rims of any dripped peach juice, and seal with lids and rings. 

Then it's into the canner (boiling water bath) for about 15-20 minutes.  You can use a normal pot of water, as long as the water covers the jars completely, but if you plan on doing any canning, a canner is a good investment.  They tend to be pretty cheap, and come with a rack to lift the jars in and out of the water.   I should point out though, that most cheap canners don't have a flat bottom, so they can't be used on flat, ceramic or induction ranges. (So, I'm glad I still have the old-style coil range).  You can buy canners that have flat bottoms, but they will cost more.  They will also be a lot prettier. 

Out of the 20lb box, I got 14-500mL jars of peach chunks.  So, since I already had jars, it worked out to about $1.75/jar.  I'm pretty sure a small can (380mL) costs more than that at the grocery store. They aren't going to win me any blue ribbons at any county fairs, but they'll do.

Giving the knives a workout.

Sometimes my knives feel neglected.  I use them a lot, but it feels good to let them stretch their legs and perform once in a while.  My project today...  homemade salsa.

I like salsa.  It's good stuff.  What I have discovered I do not like...  peeling and seeding tomatoes.  Yes, I know the method of boiling water and ice baths, but egad, it's a pain.  I had originally intended to do my own canned tomatoes, but after doing salsa, I realize I can't be bothered.  It won't save me any money, since even the organic canned tomatoes are cheap, and fresh tomatoes aren't that cheap to begin with.  Considering I cook them down substantially every time I use them, I seriously doubt there would be a noticable difference in flavour.  So, instead of the pruney fingers and tomato mess everywhere, I'll just use a can.

7lbs tomatoes (approx 30)

2 cups chopped celery

2 green peppers, seeded and chopped

2 red peppers, seeded and chopped 

2 cups sweet onion

1 small red chili, seeded and chopped

2 large jalapenos, chopped (leave seeds in)

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 can tomato paste

2-3 drops tobasco

3/4 cup white vinegar

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp pickling salt

2 tsp paprika

1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley

This is a good "dump everything in the pot" recipe.  Get it all in there and simmer it until all the veggies are soft (about half an hour).  Ladle it, while still hot, into clean, sterile jars (ideally warm ones), filling to 1/2''-1/4'' from the top.  Making sure the top of the jar is clean, put on the lids and rings.  If the salsa is still hot, they will seal on their own with this method.

If you're worried, you can put them in a 250º oven for 10 minutes, or use a canner/hot water bath.

I haven't even tried the stuff and I'm already thinking of how to modify the recipe.  I think I'd like to try a smoked salsa...  use chipotle peppers, and smoked paprika, and maybe I'll smoke the tomatoes.  That would be fun.  I'm going to have a cupbard full of salsas soon.  Would that be such a bad thing?

A Burst of Briney Nostalgia.

There is something about pickle making that always makes me nostalgic.  I'm not sure why, since I've only been doing it for the last few years.  Perhaps its knowing that I'm walking where those I love have gone before.  I didn't make pickles with my Oma very often, but it's her recipe, and now, making them with my mom (and Girl poking at play doh in the corner), it makes me happy.  We laugh when we remember stories, like the one about the lady my Oma worked for, who hated washing cucumbers so much that she put them into the washing machine.  Every cucumber came out broken, but she didn't care.  We groan collectively when we have a blow-out in the canner.

But that's mostly because we have to throw those pickles out now.  *sigh*.  We lost two jars. 

It was a long day, especially since I also made a big batch of chili (enough for 6 family meals at $1.95/meal), a massive pot of beet borscht, and a small batch of relish, not to mention the roasted chicken for dinner, and chicken stock with the carcass.

I'm feeling a lot better about this whole thing now that I have a lot of food in the freezer.  It's my own little stash of convenience food.

OMA'S PICKLES

in the jars (clean and sterile ones):

as many cucumbers as you can jam in (they shrink, so cram them in good)

2-3 silverskin pearl onions

one good sized dill flower

1 tsp pickling spice (if there are hot peppers in the mix, take those out)

brine:

13 cups water

4 cups vinegar

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

heat on the stove until all the sugar and salt is fully dissolved, and pour into jars while still hot.

Close the jars and seal in a hot water bath.