Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

The Holy Grail of Pickledom

Backyard Homesteading, Canning Your Own Food, Gardening, Pickles, Superstition

12th century lore bore the fruit that led to the tale of the Holy Grail.  The Grail being a plate or cup - maybe holy maybe not - but important enough that it played a significant role in Arthurian legend and literature and ultimately led to a hilarious Monty Python movie.  At least that's my understanding of the legend.  It might also be mere superstition.

My garden is bearing fruit.  Green beans, broccoli, cucumbers and peppers have to be picked continuously.  As a consequence fresh veggies are featured in the daily diet, are processed and frozen for future consumption and canning has commenced.  All of which is amazing given the dearth of rain for the month of July.  A paltry one-half inch!  For the first time in a couple of years I've had to irrigate.

A couple of years ago I installed a hose bib to the corner of my large raised bed garden.  Snaking a length of hose from the house I can hook up a water supply to feed several soaker hoses positioned in strategic locations. 

Like this with the pepper plants...

Hubba, hubba, eh?

This leads me to the pickle part of this post.  For years I've experimented with canning pickles.  I've done pickled green tomatoes, corn relish, beets, red cabbage, sauerkraut, dilly green beans and much more.  I have the sweet pickle recipe nailed and in the space of three years have become sort of an internet guru on how to make crispy, crunchy, sweet pickles.  Aside from this I have struggled with dill pickles.  Doesn't matter if they're Kosher, Polish or regular dill - they've always turned out mediocre at best.

Last weekend I put up 20 pints of a completely new dill pickle recipe.  Other than show you this picture verifying that they do exist I'll have nothing further to say about either the process or ingredients.  I don't want you to get the impression I am superstitious or anything but I do not want to draw the wrath of the Pickledom goddess if, in-fact, she exists.   

In three weeks these should be ready for sampling.  My secret plan is to reveal them at Schuetzenfest for the Bloody Mary extravaganza. I'm hoping to break the curse.  

The search for the Perfect Dill Pickle is like seeking the Holy Grail.

Stay tuned...

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Edit to add - One-half inch of God's water fell fell from the sky Sunday late afternoon.

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