Watermelon Pickles

Watermelon Pickles

From Eloise Morrison Templin via Liz Templin Alley

Rind from one watermelon

Brine: 1 cup salt

           4 quarts water

Per pound of rind:

            1 cup vinegar

            1 cup water

            2 cups sugar

            3 sticks cinnamon

            8 whole cloves

Note: I used the rind from a medium-small watermelon, which came to about 3 ½ pounds when all trimmed and weighed.  This made 4 pints of pickles.

Save rind from sliced watermelon after enjoying the fruit.  (We ate the melon over a couple of days, and kept the rind in the fridge for a day until I started making the pickles.)  Remove thin dark green outer portion of rind, and leave some of the red for color.  Cut into desired sized pieces—I like mine about 1 inch wide and 1 ½ inches long.  Weigh pieces and note total.  Prepare brine, and soak pieces overnight in the brine.

The next day cook rind pieces in that same brine for about 45 minutes.  Drain and rinse in running cold water.

Make syrup of vinegar, water, sugar, and spices using amounts above for poundage of fruit. Boil syrup for a few minutes.  Add the rinsed rind and simmer until the fruit is semi-transparent (45 to 60 minutes).  Place pickles in glass jars (discarding spices), cover with hot syrup, and seal. (I omitted the “sealing” part, put one jar in the fridge for now and froze the rest.)

Refridgerator Pickles

I am excited!!

I am so excited to FINALLY be posting to Bonnie's wonderful blog!! I was a little (well, a lot) unsure of how to post, but not any more!!! That is because Bonnie gave me a lesson that began with photography and ended up here!!! Yippee!! So....without further ado...

These are my favorite refrigerator pickles. I make them every summer when cucumber season is heavily upon us. I love, love them. They keep for a month in the 'fridge and if you eat 'em up you can add a cucumber or two to the leftover brine before throwing it away. A replenishing of sorts. You can make them spicy or not, it is up to you. If you are in the 'not' category, just leave the red pepper flake out.

Refrigerator Pickles
Makes 1 quart and keeps one month in the 'fridge.

1 c. white vinegar
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
7 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dill seed
5 or 6 small cucumbers, taking off strips of the peel, and sliced into 1/8 thick rounds. (the best kind to use are Kirby, or pickling cucumbers, because their skins are not bitter or tough, and they have less seeds. However, I have used other kinds of cucumber with success)
1 white onion, cut into half moons, and thinly sliced.

Place the vinegar, sugar, pepper, salt, cloves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes (if using), and dill seed in a quart jar (or other container of the same size). Put on the lid and give it a good shake until sugar and salt is dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion in layers, pressing with a spoon to compact and press into the brine. Put the lid back on and give it another good shake. Place in the 'fridge for 4 hours to marinate. Yum!

It's all in the blossom end (Spicy Garlic Dill Pickles!)

So last summer I attempted to pickle...asparagus, okra, baby onions and of course dill pickles...They were SO DELICIOUS I can hardly stand to wait for the cucumbers to grow this year so I can have a go at it again!

My mom and I looked around for a recipe but finally decided to just do what was easiest (and sounded good). So here is our recipe:

• 8-10 pounds of pickling cucumbers (all that means is little baby cucumbers that have a nice firm skin)

• 4 cups apple cider vinegar (you can use white as well)

• 12 cups of water

• 2/3 cups pickling salt

• At least 16 cloves of garlic (lots more if you like)

• 10 sprigs of fresh dill weed (again more if you like)

• 10 heads of fresh dill weed

• 20 hot peppers. Any kind you find at the Farmer's Market...I can not remember what kind we used...we just picked ones that looked good. They ended up being really spicy! (You can omit these if you just want garlic dill pickles with out the bite.)

• 8-10 one quart canning jars and lids. (sterilized)

• A bit of Alum (we forgot this for the first few jars...the last few got it)
  

Throw all the cucumbers into sink. Wash with cold water. Then let them sit in ICE COLD WATER as you cut the blossom end off of each cucumber.

Peel garlic and onions (if you plan on pickling onions too. at the last minute we decided to try a few)

In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and the pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil.

Throw a couple garlic cloves and hot peppers into the bottom of each jar. One or two heads of dill as well.

Fill up with cucumbers. Don't skimp. Then add at least one more garlic clove, perhaps another hot pepper and a sprig of dill.

Fill jars with hot brine. Be careful to not burn yourself!

(If you want to use Alum here is where you would throw a pinch in to each jar and mix. It supposedly helps keep the pickles firm. We didn't notice a difference in the ones that didn't get any...but maybe because we couldn't wait that long to eat them!)

Seal jars. Make sure you have wiped down the jar's rims with a dish rag.

Place sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Process quart jars for 15 minutes.

A lot of recipes say to wait around 8 weeks before eating...we marked our calendars but could hardly wait a week before trying our first jar.

They were delicious! In fact the longer we waited the spicier they got! So it just depends on what you like.

And as I said, we also made a few jars of asparagus, onions and okra using the same dill pickle brine. They tasted great!