{"id":1285,"date":"2012-07-30T22:25:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T22:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/?p=1285"},"modified":"2023-11-04T15:21:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T15:21:15","slug":"retain-your-harvest-for-later-pickle-some-cucumbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/?p=1285","title":{"rendered":"Retain Your Harvest For Later – Pickle Some Cucumbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cucumbers<\/a>

Once a cucumber is picked from the vine, it’s “use it or lose it” and pickling is one of the best ways to “use” a cucumber and still be able to enjoy it later!<\/p><\/div>As summer gardens wind down, the bounty may begin to pile higher and higher. A successful garden requires much planning, nurturing, and hard labor. Waste any of the fruits of the harvest would represent much lost effort. Avoid waste by perfecting your food preservation skills. Many home-grown garden products can be frozen or canned, but cucumbers do not have good results from these general preservation methods. Turn to pickling to keep them crisp and delicious for months to come.
\n
\nWhat you will need:<\/strong>
\n5 or 6 medium cucumbers
\n3 onions
\n3\/4 cup salt
\n3 cups vinegar
\n3 cups ice
\n1-1\/2 teaspoons celery seed
\n1-1\/2 teaspoons mustard seed
\n2-1\/4 cups sugar
\n3 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
\n1-1\/2 teaspoons turmeric
\nTwo clean quart jars with lids
\nCanning pot tall enough to allow the jars to be submerged in water
\nCanning rack (optional, but very helpful)
\nJar lifting tool or tongs sturdy enough to lift the filled and heated jars (you can do without these if you have a canning rack, but to be honest the tongs are the easier method to use)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Begin by washing and slicing the cucumbers. Place them in a bowl, slice the onions, and add them to the bowl. Sprinkle the cucumbers and onions with salt and then cover them with ice. Allow the bowl to stand while the ice melts, approximately 2-1\/2 or 3 hours.<\/p>\n

Drain the melted ice off the cucumbers and onions and place them in a pan for cooking. Add the spices, vinegar and sugar, then heat just to boiling. It is a good idea to place the clean jars in the oven at 250 degrees while the cucumber mixture is heating up. Having the jars hot helps to ensure that they are sterilized as well as to prevent a temperature contrast between jar and pickles when filling.<\/p>\n

Turn the heat off and spoon the cucumbers, onions and juice into the clean jars. Pickles should have one-half inch of air space between the top of the pickle and juice mixture and the lid. Wipe the rims of the jars off with a clean damp paper towel and put the lids on the jars. It is often helpful to tighten the rim, then loosen it a quarter-turn in order to make sure air can escape.<\/p>\n

Fill the canning pot one-half to two-thirds full with water and heat to boiling. Fill a teapot or sauce pan with water and heat it as well in case you need additional water to cover the jars. When the water is boiling, place the filled jars in the boiling water, making sure they are submerged. Boil the filled jars for 15 minutes. Use a jar lifting utensil or tongs to remove the jars from the canning bath. Allow the jars to cool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Check the lids to ensure they have sealed and that there is now a concave shape and no pop or movement when the lid is pressed.<\/p>\n

Smile and enjoy the fruits of your harvest and the sweet crisp flavor of your new-found food preservation skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As summer gardens wind down, the bounty may begin to pile higher and higher. A successful garden requires much planning, nurturing, and hard labor. Waste any of the fruits of the harvest would represent much lost effort. Avoid waste by perfecting your food preservation skills. Many home-grown garden products can be frozen or canned, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,66,90,21,78],"tags":[137,138,156,122,147],"class_list":["post-1285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-food-storage","category-gardening","category-summer","category-survival-and-preparedness","tag-food","tag-food-storage","tag-gardening","tag-summer","tag-survival-and-preparedness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1285"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3160,"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1285\/revisions\/3160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amongtheleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}