I don't remember them being mushy. I do remember how surprised I was at the flavor.

The fermented dill pickles that I have eaten have all been crunchy and delicious too. I used to make crunchy bread and butter pickles. They were oh so very good. Now though, it's no more pickles for me. They just have too much salt.

Patti, you can make quick pickles with lower salt. The fermented ones do require salt for safety.

[url]http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/sites/default/files/documents/sp_50_533_lowsaltpickles.pdf[/url]

[url]http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/reduced_sodium_dill.html[/url]

[url]http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/reduced_sodium_sweet.html[/url]

I hate waste so today I also canned 10 quarts of beets. I pulled them and they have been setting in the shed for about a week. I guess there aren't too many people who want 1/2 bushel to eat. and I still have 4 rows in the garden. sigh. not a great seller this year. If nothing else we will have beets and jam and hot tomato veg. juice to eat.

[QUOTE=coronabarb;669913]Patti, you can make quick pickles with lower salt. The fermented ones do require salt for safety.

[url]http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/sites/default/files/documents/sp_50_533_lowsaltpickles.pdf[/url]

[url]http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/reduced_sodium_dill.html[/url]

[url]http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/reduced_sodium_sweet.html[/url][/QUOTE]

Oh, THANKS so much Barb. I'm going to try this one next season! I never would have thought that I could make pickles again for myself.

[QUOTE=clkeiper;669930]I hate waste so today I also canned 10 quarts of beets. I pulled them and they have been setting in the shed for about a week. I guess there aren't too many people who want 1/2 bushel to eat. and I still have 4 rows in the garden. sigh. not a great seller this year. If nothing else we will have beets and jam and hot tomato veg. juice to eat.[/QUOTE]

Too bad you live several states away...I'd be happy to buy them from you. I haven't been able to grow more than a few thanks to some pesky voles, chipmunks or? LOL, seriously, not sure what they are, but no amount of fenching around, or screen stapled on the bottom of my raised beds has helped to get me a real harvest of beets. Next year I'm going to have my husband make a complete screened in cover to place over the 4 by 10 ft. bed.

So, what is your secret...do you not have any hungry critters?

[QUOTE=MissS;669932]Oh, THANKS so much Barb. I'm going to try this one next season! I never would have thought that I could make pickles again for myself.[/QUOTE]

Any recipe that calls for vinegar to pickle doesn't need salt if it is not fermented.
I choose to use citric acid myself in salsa.

Almost all cucumber pickles are fermented in huge vats then pulled washed and a water vinegar salt spice concoction is put back in and packed.
My deli styles are made with 2 tablespoons of salt to one quart of water and fermented for only about a week.
The amount of salt to water depends on temperature of the ferment.
The hotter it is the more salt.
More sour more salt and time in ferment.
You can literally put so much salt in food it will last indefinitely.
This is how they stored limes aboard ships to prevent scurvy.
The beauty of limes is they are already acidic anyway.

When and only when you start processing storing food in jars and making certain types of sausage do you start taking a chance of botulism causing bacteria's growing.
Most of the time.
Or covering food such as a baked potato in foil to create that anaerobic environment the stuff loves so well.

Salt creates an environment that bad bacteria cant grow in.
If it does go south you will know it and wont want to be anyplace around it much less eat it.

One last thing.
If you look at the sodium content in food this will not cross relate to the amount of salt directly.
Salt contains 60% chloride and 40% sodium.

All of these mixes and packaged foods like gravy mixes and hamburger helper are so salty I cant stand them all I can taste is salt.

Worth

[QUOTE=clkeiper;669930]I hate waste so today I also canned 10 quarts of beets. I pulled them and they have been setting in the shed for about a week. I guess there aren't too many people who want 1/2 bushel to eat. and I still have 4 rows in the garden. sigh. not a great seller this year. If nothing else we will have beets and jam and hot tomato veg. juice to eat.[/QUOTE]

Sadly beets and many other healthy root crops have fallen by the wayside to be replaced by garbage food like Whopper Hamburgers.

This started to some extent with the cuts in school lunch programs and calling ketchup a vegetable.
Worth

[QUOTE=Farmette;669947]Too bad you live several states away...I'd be happy to buy them from you. I haven't been able to grow more than a few thanks to some pesky voles, chipmunks or? LOL, seriously, not sure what they are, but no amount of fenching around, or screen stapled on the bottom of my raised beds has helped to get me a real harvest of beets. Next year I'm going to have my husband make a complete screened in cover to place over the 4 by 10 ft. bed.

So, what is your secret...do you not have any hungry critters?[/QUOTE]

we have plenty of critters. I planted up a 50' row of sweet tater... I got maybe 10#'s worth after the drought and critters ate what they wanted. they just didn't seem to bother the beets where they were. the beets didn't really grow until late in the Summer since it was so dry here and I didn't have irrigation set up for them. the voles moles and shrews ruined my strawberry tunnel by Oct 1st. that is on the opposite side of the garden as the beets. near the tree row and the neighbors who do nothing to keep vegetation cleaned up other than to pile dead debris higher and higher in the back of their lot. they are elderly renters and the slumlord... i mean landlord.... does nothing to maintain the trees or yard until a crisis creating the perfect haven for critters.

Does the weather influence the results of our canning? Specifically when making jelly? I made grape jelly yesterday and it took forever to get it to the jelly stage. Today I burned it in no time flat. Both batches were grape.

I haven't heard that, carolyn but I often have difficulty with jelly setting. It can take more than a few days for it to set up. It's a gamble between setting it aside and reprocessing it. The only jelly I don't have a problem with is jalapeno jelly but maybe that is because of the extra acid in it. Here's some help for jelly problems;

[url]http://extension.oregonstate.edu/fch/sites/default/files/documents/sp_50_746_problemsandsolutionsjamsandjellies.pdf[/url]

I don't make jelly any more because of the setting/non-setting. Jams are much easier to make for me, even with the seeds. I do strain about half or less of the seeds out usually.

I used to use liquid pectin for everything until my peach jams stayed runny. I now use the powdered pectin for everything and have only had a problem with elderberry juice. Too much work for that fruit jam.

I love Zana's list of jams. They all sound yummy and I do make some of them. I also add hot peppers to the fruity ones as we all enjoy a bit of heat.

I also pickle beets as everyone loves them. I have a special needs friend who just loves the pickled beets. He's such a love.

When making jelly use a thermometer and it is ready at around 218 to 220 degrees F.
Works for me and the set is nice.
Worth

I wonder if barometer plays a part though. it took for ever on high to achieve 220f yesterday and today I boiled it too hot in no time at all. it was too set... not that it didn't gel. it was disgusting. so I put it back in the pot added a bit more juice and heated it back up to dissolve the gel of it and added a bit of cinnamon to make it a spice jelly as I could just taste it was getting caramelized.

It might because water boils in relation to barometric pressure.
Worth