My Harvest during Hurricane Debby

Finally the rain quit for a little while so we decided to go to the garden and see what we could get today.  Not bad for a rainy day.  Check out the tomatoes, squash, dill weed, rosemary, chamomile, and peppers. 

We have four different types of peppers that include cayenne, jalapeno, banana, and bell peppers.  I am drying the cayenne and plan to make dried pepper flakes, the bell peppers I cut up and freeze, and the banana peppers will be cut in rings and canned in vinegar. 

The tomatoes and jalapenos are going to be used to make canned salsa. The onions for the salsa came from my moms garden.

Small red potatoes also came from my moms garden. I am going to cook them in the oven with the dill weed, a little olive oil, and salt. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Can't wait for lunch. Yummy!!

Fresh off the vine and free to boot.  Love that!!

Southern Sweet and Crunchy Pickles

The garden produced a large amount of cukes this year. I made plenty of sweet pickles. We use these in salads, on burgers, and straight out of the jar as a snack.

Christine's Southern Sweet Pickles

My mother in law (Teen) would make the most fabulous sweet pickles. Every summer my father in law (Melvin)would plant cucumbers and Teen would make crunchy sweet pickles. She has taught me to make pickles but I still can not make pickles as good as hers but mine are still quite tasty.





Here is the information she has given me on making pickles and this is how I make my crunchy sweet pickles



Choose pickles that are grown for pickling

Pickling cucumbers are not smooth green like salad cukes they have a prickly skin. Last year my husband planted salad cucumbers and pickling cucumbers. I used both in my pickles and the salad cukes did not get as crunchy as the pickling cukes did. This year no salad cukes in my pickles.

Sweet Pickles are best when sliced into rounds and not spears

Do not peel cukes just wash thoroughly and slice by hand about 1/8" thick

Soak cucumbers in a large plastic food grade container or glass container (no metal please) with pickling lime mixture
I use Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime. This is a food grade lime.

mix 1 cup of lime to 2 gallons of cold water in the plastic container and add cucumbers

let cucumbers soak in mixture for 2 hours or overnight

Next remove cucumbers from lime water and discard lime water

Rinse cucumbers in fresh cold water 3 times

Soak cucumbers in fresh ice water for 3 hours

Mix the following items together in a non reactive pan ( I use my enamel canning pot) If you use an aluminum pot the pickles will turn black or a dark color as they age in the jars.

8 cups white vinegar
8 cups sugar
1/2 jar pickling spice (McCormick brand is best)

Bring to a boil and add cucumbers (be sure to drain off all water) to vinegar mixture

Bring back to a boil and turn off heat
Let sit in vinegar mixture for 5 to 6 hours or can be left overnight

Bring pickles back to a boil

Pack pickles in sterilized jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes

Pickles are ready to eat or can be stored for 2 years or longer. Be sure lids sealed by removing ring and checking each seal -- dry the jar around the seal and replace the ring

Making Grape Jelly

The grape vines have grown very tall so we had to get the tractor with the bucket out to pick the grapes.  Plus this is how we get the kids to pick for us.  These are wild grapes that grow everywhere here in Florida. They are small and tart which makes a very good jelly.

Jelly making is simple and fast once the juice is extracted from the grapes.  A large piece of cheese cloth or very thin cloth works for squeezing out the juice. Last year I decided to use my juicer and it worked but was a mess to clean out of the machine.  Just put a handful or two of grapes in the cheese cloth and twist and squeeze into your bowl. Dump the pulp and repeat until all the grapes are juiced.

Follow the recipe that comes in the sure jell pack and you have jelly. 

Be sure you sterilize the jars and heat the lids.

Check to make sure the jelly is sealed in the jars and it will last a few years in your pantry.

This method works for wild blackberries too.  (getting the kids to pick for me) LOL