Pickles

I realized this weekend that I really should have been making pickles last week- there are a few very large seedy cukes ready to get composted now, and I was told by N that I was being "rude to the food" while I was throwing the large yellow ones out into the pathways. I guess we've said that to her in the past about wasting food?????? the things that come out this kid's mouth, I tell you. Anyways I explained that we'll turn it into food for the plants next year, so it's not really wasting it- and then I was told twice that the yellow ones make really good relish (not by N, she's not that aware of old time preserving recipes), but I'm sure I'll get more oversized ones by the time I'm through.

Anyhow I picked a bunch of cukes and dill and beans and made 16 jars of pickles this weekend- a slightly stupid number because my canner holds seven jars at a time, so I had to boil one last batch of two jars- annoying. It was really hot work, and long, and darn it, I just don't know how I did it last time I was pregnant. And I really went nuts with the pickles when I was having N, we're still eating pickles from 2009, and I haven't grown pickling cukes since. I do want to make a few more batches- but I'll try to keep it on the minimum I think, I always do salsa and pickled carrots though, and I do want some bread and butter style pickles, and I have a recipe for zucchini relish that I think I'll have to try (though it only calls for a measly three pounds of zucchini- and my plants are producing at least much daily), so the pickle express is far from over.