Cucumber Pickles

Zana · May 4, 2007

Harleysilo,

Sounds like a good pickle recipe. I may just borrow it for one of the batches we run this year. Just to shake it up.

There is a less labour intensive way to wash your cukes, especially if like me you make hundreds of jars of pickles per year. Put them in a top load washer with a verrrrrrry mild soap like sunlight - and you'll need verrrrrry little soap to clean them. Remember you don't want a residue left on them. Set the wash cycle/cold water wash/rinse on gentle with enough water to cover the cukes completely. (To be honest, since I buy mine from organic growers at the farmers' market, I usually just run it through without the soap. )

Trust me this is a huge time saver when doing a bushel or more of cukes in a day...and we're usually doing about 4 to 5 bushels! And no sand to deal with afterwards in the process is a huge bonus.

My family does a yearly marathon - assembly-line-style production. These are a hot pack style method, which pretty much eliminates the need to "process" any of the jars (except those that didn't seal on their own). Usually about 10% of the jars need to be processed, but considering how many we do, that's very few in the long run.

If you're interested in the Armenian Style Dill Pickle Recipe I can post it.

May 4, 2007	#2
Zana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,521	Harleysilo, Sounds like a good pickle recipe. I may just borrow it for one of the batches we run this year. Just to shake it up. There is a less labour intensive way to wash your cukes, especially if like me you make hundreds of jars of pickles per year. Put them in a top load washer with a verrrrrrry mild soap like sunlight - and you'll need verrrrrry little soap to clean them. Remember you don't want a residue left on them. Set the wash cycle/cold water wash/rinse on gentle with enough water to cover the cukes completely. (To be honest, since I buy mine from organic growers at the farmers' market, I usually just run it through without the soap. ) Trust me this is a huge time saver when doing a bushel or more of cukes in a day...and we're usually doing about 4 to 5 bushels! And no sand to deal with afterwards in the process is a huge bonus. My family does a yearly marathon - assembly-line-style production. These are a hot pack style method, which pretty much eliminates the need to "process" any of the jars (except those that didn't seal on their own). Usually about 10% of the jars need to be processed, but considering how many we do, that's very few in the long run. If you're interested in the Armenian Style Dill Pickle Recipe I can post it.