Last Saturday we headed to a farmer's market in Houston. It was Brit's last weekend before heading back for her last semester of college. Her dad's idea and it sounded fun so we all, including Milo, piled into the Tahoe and headed south. Little did I know that later that day we would be making spicy pickles and green beans, but I'll get to that after a quick photo tour of our morning. To get to the farmer's market you must first walk through this little produce outlet which is like a little grocery store with prices that can't be beat. I wish I could go every weekend!
Brit found some cherry tomatoes to buy.
And stopped to pose for a picture. Milo wanted no part of it!
Once through the store we reached the farmer's market.
The vendors take a lot of pride in making their stands appealing to the eye.
Some even have samples for you to taste before purchasing.
Richard found plenty of stuff to buy.
Including a pepper plant that now resides on our back porch.
After an hour or so of shopping we headed back to the store with pepper plant, fruit and veggies in hand .
It was then our way out, that we noticed these small cucumbers and sparked the idea of making pickles. So we bought a couple of pounds and headed home with no real clue how in the world to make them.
After a call to his mom and one more stop at HEB for pickling salt, a set of mason jars and fresh dill we arrived home ready to get started. The recipe we found was from my Better Home's Cookbook. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
1/4 pound 4 inch pickling cucumbers (5-6)
4-6 heads fresh dill
2 cloves of garlic, halved
1 3/4 cups water
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. pickling salt
Directions:
Rinse cucumbers. Prepare pickling bottles. Pack cucumbers loosely into a hot, sterilized quart jar leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add dill and 2 cloves of garlic halved (We also added a couple dried chili peppers that we purchased at the farmer's market to make it spicy). Make a brine by combining water, vinegar and salt. Bring to boiling. Pour hot brine over cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust lid. Process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes. Let stand 1 week before opening.
I was a little unsure about the processing of the pickles so I found a website, Pick Your Own, that gave step by step directions including pictures for visual learners like me. We decided to pickle some green beans, great in a Bloody Mary. So here they are in their jars waiting for the big day when we open them and see if they are as good as they look!
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