cucumbers and pickles...

What kind of cucumbers do you folks grow??? I grew up with the normal pickle style ones. Got over here 22 years ago and the variety are long and skinny and taste a little different (still good but different.. not as crunchy).... Because they are tender, they soak up vinegar and make a decent salad but just aren't the same...
Wife and I were at a leftovers store the other day where we pick up (whenever they have them) 50 pound bags of carrots and some other horse goodies along with some cheap tools, canned goods, etc...

1st thing I saw when I walked in the door was 10 pound bags of "normal" cucumbers... The 1st ten pounds are coming out my ears about now..
Is there a simple (and safe as far as food poisoning) recipe for pickles around? EX MIL always made bread & butter pickles that I liked. Can buy the little bit of dill pickles that I may go thru in a couple years at the store. We have a vinegar distillery a couple miles away that puts out some real good stuff that tastes real close to the sweet pickle taste. Is it just as simple as buying a jug of that stuff and soaking/canning the pickles (sliced of course)?

Thanks.

Try to get a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. (As in the Ball canning supply company.) I know, I know, funny name for a book, but it has been an excelllent reference since 1909. There is a great deal of information on all kinds of canning, including several recipes for pickled cucumbers, both brine and sweet. It opens with a chapter explaining proper methods, equipment, etc., including a discussion on which methods destroy harmful critters in low- or high-acid foods. The book has very good detail, including pictures, graphs, and diagrams. There are chapters on how to preserve almost any food, including low-sugar, low-salt, dehydrating, etc. They also have a 1800 help line and a website.

dave, go onto either the USDA web site and search
for canning and preserving or pickyourown.org. Both
have some very good recipes for making bread and
butter pickles.

Leonard

I was in Germany in 1979 with some other military people. We had tried to make a crash course in the German language but had made little progress.One of my friends wanted to show how he could communicate with the locals. We went into a nice restararnt/saloon and during the meal he spoke to the cute German waitress "Ein Gross Gherkin" (pardon my spelling) expecting to buy a dill pickle from the big jar on the bar. The little lady hurried into the kitchen and came out with a big cucumber and a knife. she proceeded to cut off slices into his salad bowl. I never tried my skilll after he messed up. All the people I needed to talk to could speak English.

Dave2,

I make some pickles that I just keep in the fridge since I am the only only one that likes the sweet variety. I will make several quarts and keep them in bottom/back of the fridge without going through the canning process.

I make bread and butter pickles, beet pickles, watermelon rind pickles (when I can still find on with a thick enough rind), and a slightly sweet dill refrigerator pickles... our kids do love the sweet dills.

Here's a link for bread and butter ones that is about like my recipe. *Vary the amount of crushed red pepper depending on how spicy you like them.
Bread and Butter Pickles

(quoted from post at 08:31:47 07/16/12) I was in Germany in 1979 with some other military people. We had tried to make a crash course in the German language but had made little progress.One of my friends wanted to show how he could communicate with the locals. We went into a nice restararnt/saloon and during the meal he spoke to the cute German waitress "Ein Gross Gherkin" (pardon my spelling) expecting to buy a dill pickle from the big jar on the bar. The little lady hurried into the kitchen and came out with a big cucumber and a knife. she proceeded to cut off slices into his salad bowl. I never tried my skilll after he messed up. All the people I needed to talk to could speak English.

Click to expand...

22 years and I still get things screwedup... OTH, depending on what you add to them, some words mean different things in different areas. That gurkin can go both ways.

(quoted from post at 08:32:48 07/16/12) Dave2,

I make some pickles that I just keep in the fridge since I am the only only one that likes the sweet variety. I will make several quarts and keep them in bottom/back of the fridge without going through the canning process.

I make bread and butter pickles, beet pickles, watermelon rind pickles (when I can still find on with a thick enough rind), and a slightly sweet dill refrigerator pickles... our kids do love the sweet dills.

Here's a link for bread and butter ones that is about like my recipe. *Vary the amount of crushed red pepper depending on how spicy you like them.
Bread and Butter Pickles

Click to expand...

Thanks! Most stuff, we just get in the store but some stuff just isn't the same or available. Pickled beets from the store but pickles (cucumbers) just don't do it. Wife liked a jar of applebutter from the commissary but is borderline diabetic so we found a recipe that she cut the sugar way back on and we both like it real well.
Will get her to try the B&B pickles I hope.

Dave2,
Forgot to say that for the sweet varieties I just keep them in one of those plasic disposable dishes with a snap-on lid. The sweet dills I do in glass jars. Here's the link for them in case you ever want try them... slightly sweet, and spicy - recipe only makes 2 quarts. *If you ever do try the sweet dills, don't crush all the seeds like the recipe says - they still get plenty of flavor and you don't have the mess of crushed up stuff all over your pickles to contend with.

Also, my favorite cucumber both for eating and for pickling is the Burpless cucumber... simply because it grows longer but keeps a thinner skin and the seeds stay much smaller too. Versus the "pickling" cukes... short, thick skin and the seeds will get too large inside them in a hurry unless you pick them quite small.
slightly sweet dill refrigerator pickles

The burpless seem to be the ones I was talking about. OK, but I like the other ones better.

Dave,I dont have the recipe ,but a friend of mine used to make freezer pickels,you might like them,they were safe and easy I dont know how to look it up and send it to you , Im not real good at the computer,but maybe someone will read this and help you out

Dave, get some Mrs. Wages Bread and Butter pickle mix, follow the directions, and you won"t regret it. It"s the only B&B we make.

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