Food,  Gardening

Bounty

bounty
I wasn’t expecting to have this much of a harvest last Thursday. It started raining around 4pm, a heavy rain, one that I was hoping would refill the rain barrel. I was glad I didn’t have to water as the last time I went the well had run dry, spitting air out instead of water and twisting the hoses around like one of those old 80s water games.

I started poking around not expecting much but I’d lift a giant zucchini leaf to find a fruit waiting to be harvested, and cucumbers cautiously hiding behind leaves. It was a surprise every time I went to a new bed, finding more things to harvest and of course I didn’t end up bringing anything to carry it all out so I had to rummage in my truck for a reusable grocery sack to carry everything out.

All of the cucumbers except the suyo long ended up being converted into three jars of pickles. Pickles and I go way back. I can’t pinpoint when my love affair with the salty-vinegary goodness began but probably sometime when I started teething and could eat solid food. I grew up eating my grandmother’s pickles, made from cucumbers she grew, bought at a farmers market or if they had pickling cucumbers at the store. It isn’t unusual for me to polish off a whole jar in one sitting. I remember people warning me the acid would erode my stomach, but I didn’t care. A perfect Sunday evening mean growing up would be leftovers from Nan’s (my grandmother) of cheese potatoes, fried chicken, maybe some okra and definitely pickles!

One small delight in returning to Texas is that when you go to a movie theater, pickles are sold at the concession stand. I think I found them at one theater in Florida, but otherwise I was out of luck. I don’t know if this is an option in other states, but if it is let me know! I’m also fond of pickle popcorn, salt and vinegar chips…I have an addiction!

As for pickle recipes, we are trying a variety of recipes and Chris made some of Nan’s pickles while I was in PA a few weeks ago. He’s also made Klaussen like pickles and I made some using a recipe from my grandmother on my dad’s side. The cucumbers in this photo ended up in a variation of this recipe from Food in Jars. Basically I only followed the vinegar, water and salt recommendations and then added my own spices.

I’ll let you know how they turn out in a few weeks!

Got a pickle recipe to share?

One Comment

Leave a Reply to Moosie Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.