RAIN!

Today began like this... 

but wound up like this...

 so it's been a lovely inside day...doing inside things.....such as

pickled beets....

and Sweet Gherkins. 

In the case of the gherkins, I am not much of a recipe poster, but these are simply the best pickles and I'll share the recipe below.  They take a little extra work, but they are soooo good! Also, I apologize for typos in my posts lately.  To be honest, I never was much of a copy editor, so I find all kinds of typos in everything I type, but worse nowadays it seems!  The older I get, the more I get.  So, if you find a few (as usual) skip over them...or if you find you have a question, post it in the comments.  I am still playing "catch-up" from my days without the Internet and am waging a lobbying campaign with Frontier Communications, (who just took over West Virginia from Verizon) for high speed internet.  It seems there is a possibility that we could have it sooner rather than later here. 

Wish me luck!

Sweet Gerkins



Yield 7 to 8 pints


Cucumbers, 1 1/2 to 3 inches in length............... 5 quarts (about 7 pounds)
Salt, pure granulated............................1/2 cup
Sugar........................... 8 cups (2 quarts)
Vinegar....................6 cups (1 1/2 quarts)
Turmeric....................3/4 tsp
Celery Seed.............................2 teaspoons
Whole mixed pickling spice..............................2 teaspoons
Stick Cinnamon...................8 1-inch pieces
Fennel (if desired)....................1/2 teaspoon
Vanilla (if desired)...........................2 teaspoons


First day


Morning: Washing cucumbers thoroughly; scrub with vegetable brush; stem ends may be left on if desires. Drain cucumbers; place in large container and cover with boiling water.


Afternoon (6-8 hours later) Drain; cover with fresh, boiling water.


Second day

Morning: Drain; cover with fresh boiling water.


Third day

Morning: Drain; prick cucumbers in several places with table fork. Make a sirup of 3 cups of the sugar and 3 cups of the vinegar; add turmeric and spices (marked in red to include fennel). Heat to boiling and pour over cucumbers. (Cucumbers will be partially covered at this point.)


Afternoon: Drain sirup into pan; add 2 cups of the sugar and 2 cups of the vinegar to sirup. Heat to boiling and pour over pickles.

Fourth day

Morning: Drain sirup into pan; add 2 cups of the sugar and 1 cup of the vinegar to sirup. Heat to boiling and pour over pickles.
Afteroon: Drain sirup into pan; add remaining 1 cup sugar and the vanilla to sirup; heat to boiling. Pack pickles into clean hot pint jars and cover with boiling sirup to 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Adjust jar lids.
Process for 5 minutes in boiling water (start to count processing time as soon as water returns to boiling.) Remove jars and set jars upright, several inches apart, on a wire rack to cool.