RECIPE: PRESERVING THE LOST ART OF PRESERVES (how to get pickled while pickling)

Question for you?  What do you get when you mix a room full of women, a canner and drinks?  A whole lot of productive fun.

DISCLAIMER ALERT- Life is all about balance.  All too often we become obsessed with healthy eating and exercise but forget about our mental wellbeing.  True health isn't just physical. In reality, there are four pillars; It's a combination of physical, emotional, psychological, and social.


Don't take your food so serious that you can't enjoy it and the people around you.  I try and follow an 80/20 rule of thumb: 80% healthy, smart, responsible choices.  20%  bebauchery.   Life is for the living so have some fun.  This is why I like to pair my pickling and preserving with some friends and drinks. I'm not an athlete.  I'm not getting paid to stay lean or at my peak performance.  I do what I do so that I can continue to enjoy my life far into my old age. On to the preserves.

Way back in yesteryears, women would gather in kitchens where they would peel, slice, boil and chat or cluck like chickens (my husbands observation) while preparing for the winter. How else could they eat fresh, local produce in the dead of winter? They couldn't just hop into their carriages and peruse aisles and aisles of produce for which they hadn't the faintest idea of where it came.  I'm certain that they weren't eating unpronounceable food that couldn't be made in the kitchen, and has travelled 1,500 miles to get their. I have taken on the task of  reconnecting with my food by using an ancient tutorial called a book, the "Bernadin Guide to Home preserving"; straight out of the 1990's.  Wow!  Old.

I am a huge proponent of the "eat real foods" movement and am making small strides in that area.  During this journey, I’ve found that eating real food require's planning ahead. If you want local blueberries, tomato sauce or pickles, then you best get on that before your garden all but wilts away. This is definitely an area of “real food eating” where I recommend starting small…just pick a handful of items to work on preserving this summer.  I've ventured into the domain of pickles, jellies and jams; easy peasy, right? I'll tell you one thing, you certainly won't find me mindlessly eating these preserves. I know how much time and work went into making them.  I'm certainly glad to have a supermarket, refrigeration and other modern conveniences but I am also quite aware of how disconnected from our food we have become.

It's A chunky Monkey kinda day.

Today's pickles are  Zesty Bread and Butter pickles and Chunky Mustard Pickles.

Todays drinks are Dirty Monkeys!

What you'll need for your pickling adventure...

A recipe.  Check!                                                                           

A big ass pot. Preferably red. Check!

Some friends to help peel and chop and drink. Check!

also ...

6.5 lbs of cucumbers; good luck with that
1lb of onions; enjoy the cutting
1/3 cup pickling salt
5 cups vinegar; 5% or 7%
1 1/4 cups sugar; pronouncable ingredient so no fears *
2 tbsp celery seed
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp turmeric

* Egad!  Not sugar!  Yes, it's the sinful sugar we all love to loath but compared to the size of the recipe it's a drop in the bucket.  Afterall, these are meant to be bite sized, condiments not an entire meal.

Wash, peel and cut your cucumbers.  Have a drink. Layer them in a bowl and sprinkle on some salt. Have a drink. Take your big ass pot and fill er' with water and your clean mason jars.  Set it to boil. Sit around, make some drinks, chit and or chat. Combine vinegar and spices in a large sauce pan and get them boiling. Now remove your hot jars from the canner and pack all that pickley goodness in, pouring hot liquid to cover within 1 cm of rim.  Perhaps best not to drink. Wipe the jars clean, add lids and plop them in the hot canner. Cover the canner and get it to a rolling boil for 10 min. Take the jars out to cool for 24 hrs and listen for the pops. Super exciting! For the full recipe and instructions click the link above.



Oh, you want Chunky Mustard Pickles...here's a pic of the page because the link above isn't exactly the recipe we used.

Follow recipe exactly! Do not alter the amounts of vinegar or vegetables. If looking for a less sour pickle add more sugar rather than decreasing vinegar.  Though I found they turned out nice and sweet.

Next week, pickling with AMARETTO and the case of how a 250 ml recipe somehow wound up using an entire 750 ml bottle of Amaretto? Vanished.

Be sure to check out all our pics on my facebook page "They Call Me Mighty Mouse"