Martha & Mary Cook Book Club - July 2010 Meeting

The LBC Cook Book Club met on Tuesday, July 13 to make pickles. Chris Yates, our facilitator shared several pickle recipes with the group. The demonstration included the following recipe for a 5 day refrigerator pickle.

Ms. Vernice's 5 Day Refrigerator Pickle Recipe:

12 medium cucumbers (fresh picked are the best)
8 onions
4 cayenne peppers (optional)

Cut up cucumbers in 1/2 thick chips

Cut onions in wedges

Cut peppers in half - leave seeds for flavor

Place 1/2 pepper (optional) 1 wedge onion and as many cucumber chips as possible into quart or gallon jars.

4 cups of sugar

4 cups vinegar

1 1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/4 tsp celery seed

1 1/4 tsp mustard seed

1/2 cup canning salt

Heat sugar, vinegar and spices. Pour hot mixture over cucumbers, add additional cucumbers as necessary. Tighten clean lids onto jars and turn container upside down. Refrigerate for 5 days before eating.

These pickles must remain in the refrigerator until used. Yum!

Chris also shared the recipes for Watermelon Pickle & Sweet & Sour Pickles.

Watermelon Pickle

1 cup kosher salt

1 8-10 lb watermelon, rinsed and quartered

5 cups sugar

4 cups white vinegar

2 cinnamon sticks

2 tbsp whole cloves

Dissolve salt in 8 cups cold water in a large bowl. Cut off red watermelon flesh from white-green watermelon rind and save for another use. trim off and discard thin green skin, leaving white and pale green part of rind intact, then cut into 1" pieces (should have about 7 cups). Add pieces of rind to salt water, cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following day, boil sugar and vinegar together in a medium nonreactive pot over high heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, 4-5 minutes. Add cinnamon and cloves, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until reduced by one third, 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile drain and then put into a large pot cover with water, and boil until translucent about 15 minutes.

Drain rinds and add to pot with vinegar syrup. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until syrup has reduced again by one-third about 2 hours. Discard cinnamon and cloves.

Fill 5-6 hot sterilized pint canning jars with hot pickle and syrup to 1/4" from top. Screw on the hot sterilized lids and process in a canning pot of gently boiling water for 20 minutes. remove jars from pot and set aside to cool completely. Refrigerate after opening.

Irene's Sweet and Sour Pickle

8 small cucumbers
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 sprig dill
1 clove
1 bay leaf
3 black peppercorns
white vinegar

Makes 1 Quart
Prefer cucumbers no larger than 3" long for this preparation, but larger ones work too. The pickles will be ready to eat in 10 days and will keep 3-6 months, but be sure to refrigerate after opening (even if processed in a hot-water bath).

Wash cucumbers (halve or quarter lengthwise if they're large) then place cucumbers in a basin and cover with a brine of 4 cups water and 6 tbsp salt for 18-24 hours.

Pour off brine. Arrange cucumbers cut side out in a dry sterilized 1 qt canning jar leaving about 1" space at the top. Place garlic, dill, clove, bay leaf and peppercorns in the jar.

Heat equal parts white vinegar and sugar in a saucepan until sugar is completely dissolved. Pour over pickles, filling jar to within 1" of lip. Clean rims, place lids on jars, and set aside to cool. Store refrigerated - or process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes and store in a cool dark place.