Jul 15, 2015

Pickling!


I have jumped on the fermenting bandwagon!  In my fridge you will find kefir, homemade ginger soda, pickles and sauerkraut!  I have been at it for several months now and the only complaint is that there seems to be a lot less space in our refrigerators for groceries.  We are all enjoying trying new foods (and drinks) ...LOVE THE KEFIR!


my beautiful crock I found at an antique store for $60!


The first batch of pickles in our new 6 gallon crock was the best so far.  Batch two was too salty and batch three which I tried to make from a Hungarian recipe I found online that used only salt was a miserable fail.  It seems that the only salt recipe made my cucumbers literally disintegrate after 3 days in the giant crock.  Thankfully I only lost about 12 cucumbers and my time.  

watermelon pickles (we didn't love these!)


I remember a trip to Maine when I was a wee lass and stopping to visit some friends.  They had a huge old farm house that was L shaped (it attached to the barn to help with the long cold Maine winters).  On the porch was an old well used crock and the ancient man my father was visiting reached in and handed us a half sour pickle.  He apologized that they weren't really ready yet, but in my 10 year old mind I thought it was the most wonderful pickle I ever ate.

So when I saw the fermenting bandwagon begin on Pinterest, I gladly jumped on gathering recipes and ideas to begin my own little adventure!

The old ways take patience and a little know-how, but the result it well worth the time and wait.  

I hope to master half-sour garlicky pickles soon. 
 My family is waiting patiently for the victory!
 


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