Canning Pickles

Our crop of pickling cucumbers did great this year! Some did get a little too large, but we were away so I am just grateful to have any at all.

Today I set out to can pickles, using this super tasty recipe by Rachel. I was a little nervous that they wouldn't taste great because of the cukes being on the vine too long so I also added some extra spices.

So these:

Minus 10 straglers:

Turned into 20 quarts and 7 pints of pickle deliciousness:

It took me about 5 hours to complete this task. I stopped a few times to nurse Kaia and Tony wrangled the children the rest of the time. Without him being here it would have taken me about 10 times longer and I can't even imagine the heat... Using the stove top for so long at that intensity (my canning pot is 33 quarts and takes up two burners) made our house INSANELY hot. Thanks for all your help Tony!

It's not exactly a fast process, so I entertained myself with taking photos along the way.

The gang busied themselves with walks around the neighborhood, pretending to be astronauts and friends stopped by for a bit.

The truth is, we really do love pickles but never buy them. It is kind of hard to find pickles that don't have silly ingredients added (like yellow 5 or whatever the hell it is called) and when we do find them, they are crazy expensive. I think we are all set. Until cucumber season is upon us again!