Today is the big day-the beginning of 14 days that will end in pickle happiness. I hope all who pickle along-are pleased with the results-and hopefully the rest of you can see how the process goes-and use it for future reference.
14 Day Pickles
Step One: Wash 3 dozen small cucumbers. Place whole cucumbers-do not peel or slice-into a clean crock.
Step Two: Dissolve (stir to dissolve) 1 pint of salt (not iodized) in one gallon of cold water-pour over cucumbers.
Step three: Place plate upside down on top of cucumbers to keep them submerged under the salt water. You can place a quart jar full of water on top of the plate to hold it in place. Cover the crock with a towel and let set one week. WARNING-mold may develop on top and around the plate-this is totally NORMAL-no need to worry about it until the next step.
The next step will take place on Tuesday August 18th-it’s fairly quick and easy. The step involves pouring out the brine and soaking the cucumbers in fresh water over night.
As I mentioned before, I had never tasted 14 Day Pickles until I met The Deer Hunter. His mother, Miss Cindy, introduced me to them. Her recipe has been handed down through her family. We are the 4th generation making 14 day pickles from the same recipe. Miss Cindy saved her Grandmother’s handwritten recipe-it’s old, torn, and stained-thankfully she had the foresight to laminate it for future generations. I’m very proud to say-the recipe resides in my kitchen now.
Tipper
I use to make the 14 day pickles many years ago, but your post has inspired me to try them once more, now that I am retired.Thanks for the inspiration.
We have about a ton of foot-long English cukes grown from seeds we got from a mail order catalogue. I’m trying the 14-day process with them.
Any ideas for something simple to do figs? (I’m willing but culinarily challenged.) We have enough for the birds, mosquitoes and us, too.
Ed Williams
Wish I still had cucumbers so I could join you. But I’m gonna come up there sometime and eat one or two with you.
i wish we lived closer–i’d trade you some jelly for pickles!
🙂
Hadn’t thought of 14 day pickles since a child. Mother used to make them. TTFN ~ Marydon
Tipper,
Grandma and Mom both made 14 day pickles. They are delicious. It’s been a long time since I’ve made any pickles. Maybe it’s time I did.
Wish I could pickle along with you~but my cukes are just starting to bear. Maybe I can try it later!
Yum, yum, yum.
Oh, I am so jealous! I have several Suyo long cukes in the fridge, and would love to make some sweet sliced pickles out of them, but I don’t have a crock… and don’t know what to do otherwise! I guess we’ll just eat them!
We are between cucumber crops here so I bought 3 dozen pickling cukes from my neighbor at the Charlotte Farmer’s Market, Donnie Cline of New Beginnings Farm in Vale, NC, on Saturday.
Put them in our Harsch 2.6 liter crock my wife gave me for Christmas two years ago this morning.
http://www.wisementrading.com/foodpreserving/harsch_crocks.htm
I wish I had the cucumbers on hand in order to play along. I’ll be watching though . . .
I promise, you will not be disappointed with these pickles!
They’re in and they’re cute. Cute cukes!
My cukes I bought at the local cucumber farm were the extra smalls, they are sold by the hundred, you count, and priced by the grade. There wasn’t a lot of difference between the extra smalls and the smalls, I like my sweet picks small small, well not itty bitty gherkin size but close. But if 36 of your smalls measure two gallons, then the ones I picked up for my garlic dills would have been the same size as yours. The cucumber farm labeled those large. The extra large seemed gi-normous to me. Oh well, what I’ve read is size doesn’t matter as much as total weight or volume, so onward!
As for the crock business, I realized when I got home that my dills would do up nicely in the three gallon crock from Dirt’s dad but that a one gallon jar might be to small for my version of your 14day picks so I found a two gallon straight sided jar (apothecary-esque) at the Wally store. Only fourteen bucks so I went for it. The picks, actually just well salted cukes at this point eh, look gorgeous in the glass.
Shhh don’t tell Dirt but the pickles he is going to refuse to eat (he only eats garlic dills) cost me thirty bucks total. But in the future they’ll nearly be free!
Tipper, I really want to thank you for getting me going on something I’ve always wanted to try, crock pickling! And if it took this idea of doing it by the moon, I’m a fan. Maybe if I HAD to do things by the moon phases I’d actually get things done.
That is a lot of work, but the pickles are probably delicious. Hope the signs are good for canning tomatoes-which I hope to do this afternoon. Neighbors said I can harvest from their pear tree, friends are bringing over figs from their tree. Looks like canning season has begun!
I wish I had some time and some cucumbers. I guess I’ll have to plant a vine or two next year. They’d probably grow here. Pappy
I’m all ready and doing the first step. Looking forward to the results!
Doing a batch of garlic dills too, in a similar way.
I still have to buy cucumbers but will visit the Wishing Well the morning to get them. (next year I will have my own)
I made applesauce yesterday for the first time. I used a sack of ugly apples someone gave me. I got 3 pints.(I was going to make apple butter but after I tasted the sauce, I wanted to eat it. LOL Not bad. The deer had the rest of the apples for breakfast this morning. The little fawn is so sweet.
Thanks for inspiring me to put up some food.