Cool as a Cucumber

How do you like your cucumbers? In a salad? Peeled and sliced? Pickled? Or, on someone's plate besides your own?  I don't eat them (from the grocery store) from about August to May.  But, in June & July... Summer garden cucumbers every single day!

I train my cucumber vines to grow up inside tomato cages.
The deer leave them alone pretty well if I keep them tucked inside the cages.

I love how the kitchen counter looks on summer days.
There is a limit to how many fresh cucumbers you want eat in a day.  
 HERE  is my favorite pickle recipe for the extras.

So why this summer painting and post in January?

This week's art challenge word was "cool."   After thinking through a list of ideas of things that are cool, I decided, "Cool as a Cucumber" would be a fun little painting.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Sweet Pickles

Bread and Butter Pickles

cucumbers...............10 pounds

sugar.......................10 pounds

canning salt............ 1 box

alum........................ 1 heaping teaspoon

apple cider vinegar.. 1 gallon

cinnamon sticks/bark

whole cloves

Phase 1

Make brine with water and enough canning salt to "float an egg" in a bucket. (Place egg on bottom of bucket of water Add salt until egg floats.)

Remove egg.

Add clean whole cucumbers.

Cover with a plate and weight them down.

Cover bucket with a towel.

Let them stand for 2 weeks. (Yes, they will look disgusting by 2 weeks!)

Phase 2

Remove the pickles from the brine.

Wash well in clear water.

Scald out your container.

Put new water in bucket.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon of alum. (This makes the pickles crisp.)

Add the sliced cucumbers.

Let stand overnight.

Phase 3

Drain alum water.

Cover with apple cider vinegar.

Let stand overnight.

Phase 4

Drain vinegar.

Add 10 pounds of sugar. (Yes, 10 lbs!)

Add cinnamon sticks/bark.

Add bags filled with tablespoon whole cloves. (Make the netting bags out of 6x6 square of netting with whole cloves in the middle. Close the bags with a bread tie. The netting keeps the whole cloves out of the pickles.)

Let stand for a week. (Stir the sugar, cinnamon sticks/cloves every so often as it makes the syrup.

Phase 5

Put it in jars.

Enjoy!

(Thanks to my sister who grows enormous number of cucumbers and makes the best pickles with a crisp crunch and an extra zingy flavor.)

"Sweet Pickles" was featured in an Etsy treasury (collection of art and vintage items) celebrating the culture of farm life.  Click "Hey, Good Lookin'!" to enjoy the treasury.  Home for the Summer is a collection that will give you a peaceful sigh. Click A Trip to the Farmers Market for a happy, colorful, and yummy treat.  Finally click Screaming Pickles for another fun treasury all about pickles. 


It also enjoys a spot on the October challenge celebrating "labor" on In the Moment Challenge.  Have a look!