Pickles!

In a positive frenzy of fermentation today!

 

Mable's Pickles

Per quart jar:

1 pound pickling cucumbers - choose smaller ones

2 cloves garlic - no brown bits!

1 tsp alum

1 heaping T rock salt (cheapo ice cream salt is fine as long as it's clean)

1-2 good-sized heads of dill

Apple cider vinegar (ACV)

Water

Wash and trim cukes.

Place garlic, alum, salt, and dill in jars, then pack cukes in tightly, keeping them below the neck as much as possible.  Pour ACV in jars to just under half-full, then top off with cold water to just covering the cukes.

Close the jars. Invert them a couple of times a day til the salt is dissolved. Let cure at least a month.

Mead Experiment, part 1

At Zoie's request, I'm blogging this.

I just started a mead experiment using this method: "a sterilized, recycled glass jar (preferably restaurant-sized), one part honey, four parts water, a sprinkle of yeast, some raisins, a bit of lemon peel, and whatever the herb garden has too much of can be quite interesting. Stir several times a day until it starts bubbling, then ignore (except to taste every now and then)."

 I used a 1/2 gallon Mason jar, 1 part honey, 4 parts water, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 2 coins ginger, a chunk of lemon peel, and a scant 1/8 tsp bread yeast.

I suppose now I will have to continue to post updates!

P.S. I don't like the new Blogger behind-the-scenes format.

ETA: A friend pointed me to this very similar recipe.