Making Pickles
I made pickles yesterday. Our garden this year contained, among other things, four pickling cucumber plants. By yesterday, we had about fifty 3 inch long cucumbers. I've never made pickles before, so I had to do some research to figure out how, and I ended up purchasing a Mrs. Wages Pickling Mix, and following the directions on the packet. I started by washing the jars and lids in hot, sudsy water, and keeping them hot in almost boiling water. (I used my biggest stock pot, with a rack in the bottom to set the jars on.) Then I prepared the cucumbers, slicing the more curly ones, and cutting the straighter ones into long spears. Once the cucumbers were ready, I combined the pickling mix, water and vinegar in a pot over medium heat, and stirred it until the mix was dissolved and the brine was starting to boil. Then I took a jar from the hot water, loaded it with cucumber pieces, poured the brine in until there was only about 1/2 inch of air in the top, then put on a jar top an...