“From vine to brine in less than 12 hours” is the rule of thumb for home pickling.  This brine is so simple to make and can be made in large volumes so you can pickle as you pick those young tender beans, baby cukes and okra.   Add a slice of garlic, a tiny dried chile, and dill weed to the jar for real zing.

According to the Pickle History Timeline ( http://www.nyfoodmuseum.org/_ptime.htm) pickling is one of the oldest food preservation methods known to man.   In the fifteenth century A.D.: ”Before Amerigo Vespucci set out to explore the New World, he was a pickle peddler in Seville, Spain. Since food spoilage and the lack of healthy meals were such concerns on long voyages, he loaded up barrels of pickled vegetables onto explorer ships. Hundreds of sailors were spared the ravages of scurvy because of Vespucci’s understanding of the nutritional benefits of pickles.”  It’s interesting to note that the cucumber came from India in 2030 B.C. and dill weed was introduced to Western Europe from Sumatra in 900 A.D.  Nearly 50% of all cucumbers grown in the United States are pickled.  And while a pickle is a cucumber, any vegetable or fruit can be pickled.   Generally pickles are a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Calcium and Iron.

Pickled green beans are super in Bloody Mary’s and Salad Niçoise.  Add them to a relish tray with other pickles and olives or toss them in a salad with purple potatoes and boiled eggs.  You’ll find a lot ways to utilize pickles from your garden.  They also make a terrific gift.  Nothing is more appreciated than a basket of homemade preserves, condiments and pickles.

This recipe works for cucumbers and okra too.  Add yellow mustard seeds instead of chile peppers.  You can substitute dill seeds if fresh dill weed is not available.  Just double or triple the amount of vinegar, water and salt to make a big batch of brine ready to use.

Ingredients for 3 pints:

• 2-1/2 pounds freshly picked green beans (Haricot Verts recommended), washed and vine-end trimmed
• 2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup canning salt (Kosher salt or sea salt)
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half
• 1 bunch dill weed (seed heads included) divided into 3
• 3 tiny red chile peppers or 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes in each jar

Method:

1. Sterilize 3 pint jars with rings and lids.  Keep warm.  Trim green beans to 1/2 inch shorter than the jar.
2. Drop a chile and a garlic (2 halves) into each jar.  Arrange beans in jar with cut ends toward the top, packing beans in fairly tight so they won’t float up to the lid.
3. Tuck dill weed into the center of the beans.
4. In a stainless steel pot, combine vinegar, water and salt.  Bring to a boil and stir until salt is dissolved
5. Pour boiling brine over beans up to 1/4-inch from top of jar.  Wipe the lip of the jar and seal with lid and ring.
6. Let rest in a draft-free area.  Beans will ferment in the refrigerator in about 2 weeks.
7. For longer storage, place hot jars into a boiling water bath with 1 inch of water covering the tops.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove to a draft-free area and once cooled check that lids have properly sealed.  If the lids do not spring back when pressed they are sealed.  Refrigerate any jars that have not sealed.
8. Store sealed jars in cool, dark pantry for 1 year or longer.

Similar to a fresh Mexican salsa or cooked salsa picante, chutneys can be fresh or cooked.  North Americans and Europeans typically cook chutneys with vinegar, sugar and salt to preserve them, and the final product more closely resembles a sweet pickle relish.   

The following recipe is adapted from a West Indian chutney and is well suited for wind-fallen green fruit such as apples and peaches as well as a variety of unripened tropical fruit including green mango and papaya.  If you’re really opposed to rhubarb use green or ripe tomatoes.  Instead of apples use pears or peaches.  Chutneys are best served with meat, fish, poultry and cheese.  

Try this quick and delicious appetizer for your next dinner party:  rounds of toasted baguette topped with ricotta, prosciutto, arugula and homemade Rhubarb-Apple Chutney.   Homemade chutneys and other preserves make delightful gifts for house-warmings, foodie occasions, Christmas and auction baskets.

Ingredients:  makes 4 pints

• 6 apples, peeled, cored and diced 1/2-inch (6 cups total)
• 2 cups rhubarb, washed, trimmed, diced 1/2-inch
• 2 cups onion, chopped fine
• 1 cup raisins (optional) or dried fruit of choice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 hot red chilies, seeded and minced (3 chilies for milder heat)
• 4 sweet bell peppers (2 red, 2 green), seeded and diced 1/2-inch
• 1 Tbsp tamarind paste in 1/4 cup water (optional)
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 Tbsp sea salt
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2-1/2 cups sugar

Method:

1. Add all ingredients (except sugar) to a heavy bottomed, stainless steel or porcelain stockpot. 
2. Bring to a boil then lower heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Uncover, add sugar and continue to simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.
4. Continue to stir and simmer until thicken to taste.
5. Fill hot-sterilized jars to within 1/2-inch of rim. 
6. Cap and immerse in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
7. Remove jars to a towel to cool.  Store in cool, dry pantry for 6-9 months.  Refrigerate once opened.

Apple Butter Festivals reign supreme throughout the USA from September through the end of October.  Washington state to Virginia, everyone is getting in the swing for mouth-watering comfort apple-butter. Maybe your great-great-grandma made apple-butter in a copper kettle over an outdoor fire or your great grandma made it in the oven and the whole house was apple fragrant for a week.  We can now adays pretty much achieve the same quality and flavor cooking a batch of this smooth and creamy apple preserve in a crock pot.  Its so simple.  Once the apples are peeled, cored and chopped the crock pot does all the work.  Sterilize jars and heat lids to preserve your finished product or fill freezer-safe containers.  Nothing is as welcomed as a basket of homemade preserves for the holidays.  If you are fortunate to have apple trees in your yard, make several batches and have a fundraiser for school or church.  Your good neighbors will snap up every jar that you make.  Note:  use windfallen apples and be sure to compost the peels and cores.

Apple butter is perfect on toast, muffins, corn bread, crepes and makes a fabulous glaze for pork or ham roasts.

Ingredients for 5 quart Crock Pot:

• 3 quarts of apples, peeled cored and chopped
• 2 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
• 3 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp sea salt or canning salt

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in crock pot.  Turn to high and cook until bubbly.
2. Turn temperature to low and cook until thick and creamy smooth, about 10 hours.
3. Taste from time to time for more cinnamon or sugar.
4. Fill sterilized jars within 1/4-inch of rim and seal.

Sweet & Sour Dried Figs

Many years ago I lived in a small cottage overlooking Puget Sound in West Seattle.  Outside my backdoor was a green fig tree which literally dripped with sweet syrup when the figs were ripe.  The harvest of these jewels yielded many jars of fig butter with walnuts, dried figs, preserved figs for gifts, and a splendid salad with feta cheese, prosciutto and baby greens.  Serve this condiment with sausages, pate’, chicken, curries, or other Middle Eastern dishes.  Pickled figs wrapped in prosciutto with arugula also makes a tasty hors d’oeuvre.

Figs have a fair amount of potassium, magnesium and calcium plus fiber.  Be sure to buy organic dried figs, especially if you’re sensitive to sulfur dioxide.

1 lb dried figs*

1-1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 Tbsp sugar

8 whole cloves

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cook vinegar, sugar, cloves and cinnamon in sauce pan over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Add figs and simmer for 10 minutes.  Pack figs in sterile jars, pour hot syrup up to 1/2 inch from tops of jars.  Seal and process in water bath for 10 minutes.   Cool.

* May substitute dried apricots, prunes or pears

Pickled Plums and Pork Roast

Grandpa stewed dried prunes every morning before going out to milk the cows.  He claimed they “kept him regular.”  Prunes are simply dried small plums and they do aid the digestive tract.   Preserved as a pickle they make a gourmet gift for any “foodie” and can be made anytime of the year.   Cover the tops of jars with pretty callico and a ribbon.  Add a gift card with this quick recipe. 

1 lb. dried prunes

2 cups water

1 cup vinegar

1 cup brown sugar – firmly packed

1/2 tsp. whole cloves

4 sticks of cinnamon – broken into pieces

Cover prunes with boiling water for 1 hour.  Drain and reserve liquid.  Combine sugar, vinegar and 1/2 cup of reserved liquid with spices and simmer for 12 minutes.  Remove cloves and cinnamon sticks, pack prunes in sterile jars and pour hot syrup to 1/2 inch from top of jar.  Seal and water bath in boiling water for 15 minutes.  Remove and cool.  Serve with your favorite pork, chicken or lamb dish.