:: preens:: You’re welcome. 
I’m going to try Oslo’s salsa recipe, if I can scare up some half-pint jars.
I’ve never heard of freezer pickles, but they sound delish. How do you serve them?
I just made a batch of mango jam – a guy at the farmers market had cases of mangoes for $5, so who was I to resist? Four cups of mango pulp, 1/4 cup of lime juice, a package of pectin and six cups of sugar (which turned out to be too much, I think). It’s a little too sweet, but it sure is tasty.
My tomato and pepper harvest is starting to come in, so I’ll be canning away in a couple of weeks. Yay!
For a second I thought the title said “It’s caning time”, and I got all excited.
Yay! Canning!
I am still trying to track down a cheap pressure canner, but I have been looking for the last 2 years, maybe it’s time to buy a new one.
So far this year I’ve done half a dozen pints of pickled beets and about 12 pints of the “Spiced Red Cabbage” from the Ball Book. I have been adding cukes to a brine bucket as they get to the right size, eventually they will hopefully be real old fashioned fermented pickles.
Oh, and speaking of fermented, I took 12 pounds of cabbage and am attempting homemade sauerkraut. So far not much activity, but I’ll keep my eye on it.
I have no idea. I’ll probably put them out with the rest of the finger food during the holidays. That’s the only time we eat pickles. I wouldn’t have bothered with these, but people kept giving me cucumbers!
August West, my small freezer is filling up and I still have cucumbers. Tell us more about the brine bucket, please.
Stupid question - can a pressure cooker be used as a pressure canner?
Since you haven’t gotten a response yet. Some recipes for pickles have you soak the cucumbers in brine for a period. You must use a non reactive container. A glass bowl or pickling crock. You put a boiling solution of 2 cups pickling salt to 1 gallon water into the container of cucumbers. You place a plate over the cucumbers to hold them under the brine. Recipes vary for how long to do this. You can add to this over a period of a few days extending the brine soak. Skim off scum daily if it forms. You don’t want to use this unless you are going to make pickles that have this as a step.
Yep, HD nailed it.
I added some dill and a few other spices ot the brine as well. I use a large plastic bag filled with brine to keep the pickles submerged, it also makes a pretty airtight seal so I’m not seeing a lot of “scum” forming. Oh, and since I don’t have a crock I’m using a food-grade 5 gal bucket
Might as well 'fess up. My first efforts look poor. I had one jar of sliced jalapenos that wouldn’t seal, so I put them in the fridge. Viciously hot little bastards, several times hotter than the commercial variety. I may have to pitch them if no one has an idea for reducing the heat. The salsa looks watery, and tasted way too tart before processing. Also, I used only Roma-style tomatoes, and they lacked the full-bodied flavor of the big boys.
Oh well. I have another dozen or so half-pint jars, so I can try again.