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icicle pickles



were finally canned last night after an exhausting 2 week process that involved brine fermenting, rinsing daily with boiling water and alum, and then vinegar/sugar/spice rinsing and boiling and fermenting ..... using the lovely, ever useful crock method!!

We started with 3 pounds of little pickling cukes, purchased at the farmer's market from a sweet elder Russian woman who kissed the bunch of dill before putting in my bag :)
We netted only 4 pints of these precious babes and there was plenty of room available in the crock, so I think next year we'll go for about 9-10 pounds of cukes to start with!

Friend Gina told me about this recipe, which she got from her grandmother; research found many variations on the inter-net. I ended up hybridizing them into my variation, and if the bits that accidently popped into our mouths while canning were any indication, these are going to be delicious!!!

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