Pickles In the Sun

My mom is a wonderful example to me as I try to develop more self-reliance.  She has taught me so much and could have taught me so much more had I paid better attention to how she did things while I was growing up.  Thankfully, it is easy to pick up the phone and call her with all my many questions.  Today, you get to learn from her too!  (Aren't moms the best?!)

Guest post from Narene Ireland:

During the early years of our marriage, I made a variety of pickles. I made my mother's "Virginia Chunk" sweet pickles that took six days to process with the changing of the brine each day before canning. I liked these, but my husband preferred dill pickles. I got his mother's "Garlic Dill Pickles" recipe and made those for years along with the Virginia Chunks, Bread-and-Butter Pickles, Cinnamon Cucumber Ring Pickles, and even Crispy Watermelon Rind Pickles.

However, my husband who is not fond of vinegar in recipes, told me he really liked the no-vinegar dill pickles his mother used to make. By this time his mother had passed on, so I asked his two sisters about this recipe. Interestingly, they did not remember having these no-vinegar pickles; and we agreed that to make pickles you needed vinegar, and I was already using his mother's dill pickle recipe and had been for years.

Well, thanks to the coming of the Internet, I did a search one day and, lo and behold, I found a recipe for no-vinegar dill pickles that you place in the sun for 4 to 6 days to process. I tried it, and my husband enjoys these pickles; so I have been making them ever since. We will be eating from a new batch today.

 Ready to make "No Vinegar Dill Pickles."

3.5 - 4 lbs. small pickling cucumbers (not waxed)
15 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
6 bay leaves
8 cups of water
5 tablespoons canning salt
2 - 3 fresh, small green peppers (we like Jalapeno or Anaheim)
1 large bunch fresh dill (or 1 Tb. dill seed and 1 Tb. dill weed)
8 whole black peppercorns

Place the cucumbers in a clear glass gallon jar. Use whole or spears depending on preference and size of cucumbers. If using spears, trim away and discard portions with larger seeds. Place the cucumbers in layers, between which you place the bay leaves and other spices (not dill or salt). Mix salt and water until turns clear; pour into the jar and then stuff the bunch of dill on top so that it rests in the water. Place peppers on top.

 Let the jar stand in a sunny place where it won't be knocked over.

Heat is not as important as direct sunlight.
You may open the jar after 4 to 6 days;
when done, place in the refrigerator.
(Whole cucumbers may take longer in the sun.)

My daughter shared a favorite refrigerator dill pickle recipe her family enjoys; and I have a batch of these ready to eat, too. They keep in the refrigerator for two months or longer.

 

  Refrigerated Dill Pickles

Brine, heat to boiling:
9 c. water
3 c. dark cidar vinegar
1/2 c. canning salt
1 tsp. powdered alum

Place in bottom of 5-quart ice cream bucket:
2 big heads of fresh dill (or 1 Tb. dill seed and 1 Tb. dill weed)
1/2 medium onion, sliced not too thin
Clove garlic, optional

5-inch long cucumbers, slice lengthwise into spears.
Place spears on end in ice cream bucket while tipping on side.
Pour hot brine over cucumbers. Cool and put in refrigerator.
Ready in 4 days.

Zucchini, Zucchini and More Zucchini

I visited my daughter bearing gifts: summer squash from my garden. 

“What should I do with them?” she asked.

“Whatever you would do with zucchini,” I said.

“All right, we’ll give them to our neighbor.”

(Reader’s Digest, August 2011)

I like this joke even though I usually have no trouble using all the summer squash and zucchini from our garden.  Believe it or not, the thing I look forward to most from our garden each year is the zucchini and summer squash.  I love to fry them with onion, peppers (Hungarian Wax or Banana Peppers), seasoned salt, black pepper, and a very small amount of butter or olive oil.  I especially love it when I fry it long enough that it starts to caramelize.   Frying this long usually means the zucchini and summer squash pieces start to fall apart which doesn’t look as pretty, although we think it is worth it for the extra flavor.  It is still yummy and looks a lot more appetizing if you fry it just until they are tender.  Unless the zucchini or summer squash is a little large, I do not peel or take out the seeds.  All my kids even eat it!

My kids’ favorite though is zucchini bread.  We eat a lot of zucchini bread during zucchini season, but we also eat it year-round.  Zucchini bread freezes great.  Last year I put 30 loaves in my freezer and we just ate the last loaf about two weeks before we were able to start making new ones.  We like zucchini bread for snacks or in school lunches. 

You can also freeze the shredded zucchini for making fresh loaves later.  This takes up a lot less space in your freezer if that is an issue.  I like to freeze my shredded zucchini with each freezer bag containing the measured amount for my recipe.   When it is thawed, the squash will be a softer texture with visible liquid.  Leave the liquid in and the baked product will not be affected by it.  The only problem with freezing the shredded zucchini is that I often have zucchini still in my freezer the next summer, while we always eat all of the loaves. 

Here is my mom’s recipe.  In my opinion, it is the best zucchini bread recipe!

Zucchini (or Summer Squash) Bread

Beat together:

3 eggs

1 c. oil

2 c. sugar

Add and mix:

2 c. raw zucchini or summer squash, grated.

3 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

3 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

chopped nuts, optional

Bake 325 degrees for 45-60 minutes in 2 greased loaf pans.

• If you have a Bosch Universal Plus mixer, you can make 3 times the recipe.  It will be quite full, but works just fine.  Getting six loaves made with one mess is great!
• My oven bakes hot, so I bake mine at 300 degrees.  You may also have to adjust according to your oven and type of bread pans.  You’ll know it is done when a toothpick comes out clean or mostly clean.  It is best moist, so you won’t want to over bake.
• Depending on the size of your loaf pans, you may get more or less loaves per batch.  The pans I use are 9.25x5.25x2.75”.  If you use smaller pans, you’ll need to decrease the baking time.
• You do not need to peel the zucchini or summer squash, but I usually do.  It is just more aesthetically appetizing. 
• If the seeds in your zucchini or summer squash are big, you will want to scrape out the seeds before shredding.  Otherwise, you’ll have little hard pieces in your bread.
• Be sure to add the zucchini before adding the flour.  The zucchini provides the necessary moisture to wet the dry ingredients.  Otherwise, it will be next to impossible to get everything mixed even after the zucchini has been added.  (Trust me on this one.  I will never make that mistake again!)

My sister-in-law made some zucchini bars.  They were so yummy and I didn’t even realize until she told me that she had just used this same recipe.  She baked them as bars instead of loaves and then frosted them with a cream cheese frosting.  For the bars, bake once the above recipe (two loaves worth) in a greased jelly roll pan.  It will take about 30 minutes, but again just bake until they pass the toothpick test.  For the cream cheese frosting, my family can't quite agree on whether 1 or 1 1/2 times the below recipe is the right amount of frosting.  I think I'll probably stick with 1 1/2 times the recipe and those that like less frosting can scrape a little off.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Mix.

1 cube butter (softened to room temperature)

3 oz. cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
2 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

powdered sugar (enough for desired consistency)

Our zucchini and summer squash plants are doing really well this year, so I need some variety in how I use it.  How do you use your zucchini and summer squash? 

Please leave a comment and share your zucchini and summer squash recipes and tips with all of us!