In a Pickle!

This evening after I got home from work I decided to head out to my gardens for my daily 'sputz'...my 'walk-about' to see 'what's growin on!' The last few days we were blessed with warmth and rain which has been a boon to my veggie garden - especially my cucumber patch. When I say patch I mean I planted one 'Bush' cucumber - a cucumber plant that stays compact. Well - not in my garden! It's shall we say been very prolific in producing all kinds of cucumbers! But oh...how tasty they are!

Picking cucumbers takes me back to my childhood when summers meant helping my mom and my grandma, pick, clean and slice these long green beauties. If we were early enough in the season and kept a watchful eye we would pick a bushel of tiny green cucumbers that would become tiny dill pickles. Now as a child, I dreaded this rite of summer but now as adult - I wish I would have paid more attention to my mom and grandma as they worked away preserving summer's harvest. My grandmother and my mother have passed away but I remember those days well. My funniest memory of the cleaning process was when someone suggested to my mother that she should just load up the cucumbers in her old Maytag wringer washer (yes...I remember doing laundry with a wringer washer). Let's just say that I'm not sure that the Maytag Repairman would approve of what she was trying to accomplish! But it saved me from getting pruny fingers!

While I haven't tried canning/preserving pickles at this point I am slowly taking up some home preserving having started with jams, sweet pepper jams, tomato sauce and salsa.

Now for some cucumber trivia! Did you know that cucumbers have not always been universally loved? According to 18th century essayist Samuel Johnson, 'A cucumber should be sliced and dressed with pepper and vinegar and then thrown out as good for nothing.' Well, maybe he should have added some sour cream and fresh dill and he would have thought differently.

In biblical times the Palestinians guarded their lush vegetable gardens by sitting in raised lodges made of climbing cucumbers and their trellises....talk about a 'green building.'

While it's too late to do any planting this year but you'd like to try next year and want to do a little research check out the University of Minnesota Extension website for the article 'Growing Cucumbers in Minnesota Home Gardens. Lots of great information on selecting the variety you want, how to plant, caring for your cucumber plants and harvesting

As I stated before, I haven't attempted preserving pickles but when I decided to one of the first ones I will attempt is my mom's 8 Day Pickles - yes it did take 8 days of preparation before these tasty little slices were put in a canning jar and covered with the sweet spicy green brine. They were definately a family favorite and always the first to disappear out of the pantry.

And remember...get your kids (or in my case grandson Elliot) involved in gardening - someday they'll appreciate it!

Happy Digging!