In a Pickle!

With half a dozen jars of strawberry jam under may apron, I felt confident that pickles would be a good next step in my new found hobby of canning.  I got the two big boxes of canning jars from the basement that I bought this Spring at a garage sale and ran them through the dishwasher. The really great thing about some of these jars is that they are old and very cool. Some have the Philadelphia Bi-Centennial on them, some have pictures of old ladies, some are square and have measuring marks. I bought all new rings though because the ones on the jars were rusty. The other cool thing about the jars is that many of the lids were still labeled with what had last been canned in them. The two strangest to me were the ones that read "hot peppers and mushrooms," and the one that read "pear nectar concentrate."

The hot peppers and pickles from my garden.

I didn't have enough pickles of my own to can, so I went to the local farmers market and bought a peck of pickles! The larger cukes I cute into spears, which Big D loves, and rounds. The little pickles I left whole.

I used a pickle mix

I used a Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Pickle mix that required I only dissolve it in a pot of water and vinegar.  Since I have never made pickles, I thought I'd start with a commercial mix.  I do have several recipes, includes some from family members that I might try next time.  I made nine jars of the various cuts of pickles. Unfortunately, two of the bottoms broke out of the jars in the canner, and I lost two jars.

I have no idea why the bottoms broke out of two of the jars, but it was frustrating

So, I had seven jars left and one didn't seal. The one that didn't seal ended up in the fridge. Two days later, we opened and tasted - Delish!! I will definitely use this mix again.

Next, I'm going to can hot peppers and freeze some corn!