Easy pickling, and simple recipes to start your canning hobby.

First, I have to shout out to this beautiful organic farm. For $10, you can handpick a wildflower bouquet, and even dig out your own veggies. Their adorable little barn even hosts classes and has a little store.

And on to the canning… Much easier than it sounds, can be a simple way to preserve fresh foods by heating under boiling water for 10 minutes. There are some great resources to go over specifics, and it CAN get complicated, but you really just need:

a TESTED recipe (you dont want a food borne illness)
simple stainless steel pot to boil water. (can be thin, but if super thin/cheap, ONLY use for water, otherwise cooked foods will burn easily)
SS trivet
glass ball jars, wide mouth (that last forever, pick up from estate sales/good will)
new lids (each time)
funnel
and some jar tongs

Simple Fridge Pickles

This recipe is for a fresh fridge pickle, that lasts about a month.

Ingredients
- 2x 16 oz jars
- 1.5 lbs pickling cucumbers, preferably small, FRESH, “Kirby” cucumbers.
  - quartered, both ends trimmed
- 3/4 cup white vinegar
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 tsp sea salt (or other non-iodized)
- 1 sprig fresh dill (or tsp dried dill seed)
- 4 cloves garlic

Instructions

OPTIONAL: brine your pickle for more crisp, adds an extra day
- Some recipes even tell you to add an EXTRA day to “ice” your cucumbers overnight before brining them (for a more crisp final product)
- Dissolve 3/4 c salt (non iodized) in 1 quart hot water. Then add enough cold water to make 2 gallons.
- Cut off blossom end of cucumber. This helps keep the pickle crispy, bc chops off the enzyme that softens it. The blossom side is OPPOSITE to the stem side (if confused, just cut off both sides). Brine for 24 days.
At the bottom of each jar, place 2 cloves of garlic and a sprig of dill (or 1 tsp of dill).
- Optional: you can add 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes and/or 1/4 tsp whole pepper
- You can also substitute mixed pickling spice, 1 tsp per jar (recipe below)
Pack cucumbers tightly, trimming ends so all cucumbers remain under liquid.
Fill canning pot with vinegar, water and salt. Heat, stir to dissolve salt, and bring to a boil.
Pour the hot brine over the pickles, leaving 1/4” headspace. Cap jars.
Let stand on counter until cool. Label (date at the very least), and store in fridge to cure for a few days before eating. Keeps for about a month.

Notes:

The most common ball jar sizes are
- half-pint
- pint, two cups, or 16 ounces (typical pickle jar)
- quart, 1/4 of a gallon

Candied Jalapeños (Cowboy Candy)

8x 8oz jars
3 lbs jalapeño peppers
2 cups cider vinegar (ACV)
6 cups coconut sugar (recipe called for white, but i substituted)
1 Tbs salt (non-iodized)
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Wearing gloves, remove stems from jalapeños, slice across center into small, uniform, rounds (and do NOT touch your eyes or face after!). Leave seeds in place.
- Boil ACV, sugar and spices to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer 5 min. Add pepper slices and simmer 4 min.
- Transfer peppers with slotted spoon into cans, up to 1/4 in of upper rim of jar (max).
- Heat liquid back up to rolling boil, hard boil for 6 min (to evaporate some)
- Pour the boiling syrup into the jars over the jalapeño slices. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean, damp cloth. Verify no sugar or stickiness along the edge with your finger. Any residual will not allow the lids to properly seal. Screw on lids, not OVERLY tight.
  - Save leftover syrup for brining meat or other recipes.
- Place jars in large stainless steel pot, covered with water at least 1” over the top. Bring the water to a full rolling boil. Once rolling, start the timer:
  - 10 minutes for half pint
  - 15 min for pints
- Once the timer goes off, use jar lifters to transfer to a cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. Once dry, wipe clean and label.
- Allow to mellow for 2 weeks+, preferably a month.

Some notes

Use FRESH vegetables.
Use at least 50%+ vinegar liquid for pickles.
Time starts when water is boiling.
Read the entire recipe first. Some recipes require full days to ice or brine.
When canning other vegetables, know the most frequent cases of botulism come from green beans (bc they are not acidic enough), or pumpkin (bc super dense). Also giving honey to babies. Otherwise, home canning accounts for only 4% of food born illnesses.
Blanching also deactivates enzymes, which is good to make crispy pickles. (boiling to a bright color)
- 10 minutes in boiling water kills most things!
2009 saw some changes to canning recipes.. along with a major surge of popularity.
All peppers should be interchangeable in recipes, but maintain the AMOUNT (for example, you can replace jalopenos for bell peppers, just use the same amount)
Coconut sugar is a good sub for regular sugar (as it is just for flavoring). Some people add pectin to reduce sugar amounts in jams.
Salt CAN be included for safety purposes, so you may want to stick with the recipe’s amount, unless otherwise noted
Most vinegars are interchangeable, but ensure 5% acidity. (one exception: rice wine vinegar has only 4%, not suitable for pickling).
Feel free to buy used glass jars, just run finger along rim to ensure no cracks
If you have high mineral water (like well water), add 1 Tbs white vinegar to boiling water while canning to prevent mineral clouds on jar lids.
4.6 is the magic number to need more or less vinegar in a recipe. If a pH is above or below, see table for vegetables suitable for various pickling recipes.