recipe: homemade bread & butter pickles

Cricket loves him some homemade pickles. If they're on the menu somewhere, we order them. No questions asked.

I'd never tried making them before, but figured it'd be fun to try them to complement our smoked pulled pork this weekend. To be honest, the canning process intimidates me. As much as I love mason jars, the boiling, sterilizing, sealing, etc seems like a LOT of work. But this recipe isn't for canning. It's so good, these suckers won't last the week, much less until winter.

I found two versions of Hugh Acheson's bread and butter pickles, so this is an amended attempt at what I resolved to be the best combo of the two. For the most part, I followed this one found in Esquire magazine. I consulted Hugh's cookbook A New Turn in the South, which had a very similar recipe with slightly different ingredients & quantities.

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers (regular sized, or 10-12 pickling cukes)
1/2 vidalia onion, sliced thin
1/2 cup kosher salt
celery bunch (you just need the leaves, use the stalks for something else yummy)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3/4 tsp fennel seeds
1 & 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
8 allspice berries
1 & 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup amber maple syrup
1/2 cup water

Instructions:
Wash the cukes well, scrubbing to remove any dirt. Slice into 1/3-inch rounds.
Combine cucumber slices with sliced onion in bowl with 1/4 cup kosher salt in a medium non-reactive bowl. Don't use table salt--is has different additives in it. Cover the bowl with a thin tea towel (not terrycloth), and cover towel with about an inch of ice. Place in fridge for 4 hours.

Rinse cucumber-onion mixture with cold water in a colander to remove any salt. Tear celery leaves into 1/4-inch pieces and toss with cucumber mixture. Set aside in medium non-reactive bowl.

In a medium non-reactive pot, combine remaining salt and remaining ingredients. Stir. Bring to a rapid boil. Pack cucumber mixture tightly into jars and pour boiling liquid to cover. Leave on counter, uncovered, for 2 hours, then refrigerate.

[homemade bread and butter pickles]

Once at refrigerator temperature, done.

These will be at their best in a day or so and should keep up to 10 days...if you wait that long.


(if you prefer to can them for longer keeping, refer to your canning manufacturer's instructions.)

Mason jar sippy cups

Since a neighbor's tree fell this morning and woke me up, I perused my regular websites before getting out of bed.

And MUCH to my amazement Fab.com is offering these sippy cup lids for mason jars. Pretty sure these ain't for your toddler. Say what? I had to share.

It's true than mason jars are multi-use, and now we can add travel mug to the list!

Have a great weekend, and may no trees fall in your yard...

white sangria recipe

a few weeks ago, i was tasked with concocting a delicious cocktail to complement the fajitas & handmade guacamole station at a recent cinco de mayo fete. i had to make enough to serve 40+ folks, so this is a bulk recipe for approximately 5 gallons.

the yummy white sangria with fresh strawberries from jaemor farm. served in mason jars with paper straws.

in order to keep the beverage chilled on a hot Southern day, i froze the fruit overnight so that it would act as ice cubes without diluting the cocktail.

here's the recipe i made up...and it was quite yummy. perfect for hot summer nights on the new porch swing.

First, it was critical to stop at a local farm stand to pick up their fresh strawberries. i cannot tell you how delicious my car smelled the entire ride!


fruit:
2 gallons of fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and quartered (smaller ones halved)
3 large grapefruits, cut to 1" slices
2 pounds of lemons, cut to 1.5" slices
2 pounds of key limes, whole
1 cup sugar
additional fruit for garnish



alcoholic version:
3x 64oz bottles of White Grape & Peach juice
3x 2-liter bottles of Ginger Ale
1x 96-oz bottle of Apple juice
5 bottles of chardonnay
(for smaller batches, use 1 bottle grape & peach juice, 1 bottle ginger ale, 24-30 oz apple juice, & 1-2 bottles of wine)

non-alcoholic version:
3x 64oz bottles of White Grape & Peach juice
3x 2-liter bottles of Ginger Ale
2x 96-oz bottle of Apple juice
1x 2-liter bottle of lemonade


instructions:
1. clean and cut all fruit as indicated. mix strawberries, grapefruit, and lemons in large bowl. add sugar and stir. freeze overnight. freeze whole limes separately overnight.
2. in 5-gallon bucket, mix all ingredients for either alcoholic or non-alcoholic version. stir. refrigerate in large bucket (if your fridge is large enough).
3. when ready to serve, pour cocktail into large beverage dispenser and add frozen fruit. stir for even fruit distribution & you're ready to go.
4. since the fruit won't fit through the dispenser spout, it's great to have skewered fruit available for garnish.
5. of course, serve it in a mason jar!



cost per 5-gallon batch:
White Grape & Peach juice: 3 x $2.98
Ginger Ale: 3 x $1.00
Apple Juice: 1 x $3.52
Fruit: $10-12
Wine: $25-30