Searching for the Perfect Pickle

Two years ago, we were blessed with an abundance of cucumbers from our well-shaded 2-box garden-behind-the-kitchen. So I set about making pickles. I used a recipe from the Internet that declared that they would taste “exactly like Claussen” dill pickles. So, after many late nights spent spearing and canning and an appropriate amount of curing time had elapsed, we sampled the “exactly like Claussen” dill pickles. That is, if by “dill” you mean incredibly sweet and a bit soft. Pickle fail!

Last year’s pickle season was lost to the whole process of moving everything we owned a few miles west and then the lingering process of trying to figure out where to put and where I have put stuff.

But this year, we are back on the pickle hunt!

We planted three varieties of pickles, which have varied in growth performance.

Exhibit A: the organic “Marketmore” variety that were part of a Costco multi-pack of seeds. These were directly sown into the ground, and thanks to God’s perfect timing, needed a trellis at exactly the same time that the peas were done. Trellised cucumbers are a beautiful thing.

Exhibit B: the “Muncher” variety. They are beautiful, evenly green and perfectly sized for, well, munching. I’m sure they would also be great for pickling, but they are so perfect that the bugs get them before I do, so most have been eaten by the chickens. Oh, for the lack of a trellis!

Exhibit C: the “National Pickling” variety. They’re short. They’re wide. They’re warty and they’re immensely variegated in color. That must be why they are bound for pickles. Again, they would have really benefitted from trellising, but they must be too ugly even for the bugs.

And so, we have pickles. I’ve made two batches: I used a ready-mix for 4 pints of refrigerator pickles (seriously, if you have to store your canning jars in the fridge, what’s the point of canning?) and I used the “starter” pickle recipe from the Ball canning book for the second batch, 8 pints curing in the pantry. I’ve got a third “sun-cured” pickle recipe to try, and then I suppose we are ready for a pickle taste testing. Hopefully, we will find our family’s blue-ribbon recipe this year!

Web-Mistress
(and primary pickle maker)