Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Dilly Dilemma...
















The peaches turned out wonderfully.

I've discovered a favourite new sound. The pinging of lids being vacuum sealed, 'tis blissful. I also discovered that boiled peaches have a velvety soft feel once their peels have been plucked off...It was really a nice quiet time making these jars filled with peaches and love.

The pickles on the other hand...









Were much more arduous ...the garlic had to be peeled, the vinegar boiled, the dill chopped, and the jars stuffed in such a way that the most cucumbers could be fitted. I didn't have enough jars, so down I went into the bowels of 'The Basement' (this is an old house...with what seems like an even older basement..a wood room, a coal room, and a cistern ... I shudder at the thought of the creepy crawlies that have been breeding for generations in the rafters....ugg.) and I grabbed a few of The Hubs', Grandmothers jars.


I should've gone with my first instincts and p-shawed the idea once I saw them. Rubber gasket seals and all....but noooooo...I had to try to make it work.


So there I was with three over sized 'crown' canning jars that you would see on a variety store counter filled with dills, or pickled eggs, and I was trying to boil them without the water covering the lids. They were far too big for my canner, and the Bernardine lids didn't stay on quite right so I mickey-moused with them until I got them tight enough with the old screw rings.


Surprise, surprise, they didn't 'ping'...even with me watching them for hours and hoping with all my might. So now I have 3 large jars of pickles that will be on my bottom shelf...pickling themselves just in time for me to have to consume them all in one day for fear of spoiling.

If I come near reeking of garlic and dill and am green at the gills....you'll know my fridge jars were ready to go.

Pickles anyone??

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL Jack is looking at the pictures making slurpy sounds saying "gickgles, gickgles" We might need to come over to sample them when they are ready!!

~Shelia said...

I know the feeling. My mom and grandma occasionally had this dilly when they were canning. Sounds like a good time to share the pickle love with some friends, so that you don't have to eat all of them morning, noon and night!

Dana said...

YUM! Looks good!

TeaMouse said...

Well dang but don't those look absolutely delicious!

I miss my Granny's pickles so much. Store bought ones just aren't the same.

Jenny said...

Ok, UPS ground overnight is fine with me. Let me know when you have a pen and paper ready so you can get my address. Those peaches look divine!!! :) And I can put down the pickles, sister! (I always wanted to see Canada and a dairy farm.)
Good to hear from ya!

Anonymous said...

Wow, those peaches look great. Sadly, much of our fruit in England has been ruined by the rain this year.

The Rebelo Family said...

Delicious! I am envious of your talents, I did not inherit the cooking, baking or canning genes from my family; instead, they were passed to my brother. Strangely, he asked for a mix-master for his birthday! :) My grandma made some mean icicle pickles (which I love despite hating cucumbers... that's what sugar will do), but yours look pretty darn tasty... and the peaches look fantastic!