Jammin'

This weekend we decided to get serious about canning. Our pickling cucumber plants were kind of out of control. So I picked them clean and got about two-pounds of cukes. It was decided, we were going to make pickles! 

Since we needed four-pounds to make a full batch of pickles, we ventured to the local farmers market where we scored some gherkins - perfect for pickling.

Whenever I think of homemade pickles, all I can think about are my grandma's delicious bread and butter pickles. So Jon and I set out on our first attempt for bread and butter pickles!

Jon sliced all the cukes and two-pounds of onions - some from our garden (awesome!) and let them soak in a cold brine for an hour and a half. Once they were ready we rinsed them and added them to the vinegar and spice mixture. 

 

Ok, so it doesn't look like much, but trust me, it'll be tasty, once they sit for a few weeks.

We got four-quarts of pickles!

And if that wasn't enough, we decided to go raspberry picking with Katie, Steph and M over at Bohringer's. We showed M the beauty of getting a bellyache from eating too many fresh blueberries and raspberries. If you kept your container within arms reach of the little guy, you were bound to lose a handful of berries. Well, eight-quarts of raspberries later we called it quits and head home to make some jam.

Didn't you know making raspberry jam called for hand-mashing all the berries? It was oddly therapeutic.

Steph had never made jam before, so we showed her how it was done. A whole lot of waiting, waiting, ohmygod it's ready, hurry, add the pectin, and stir, and then go! With all the berries we picked we ended up making three batches of jam that we'll share between the group of us. Nothing like cooking with your friends :)

Heck, we even had enough berries leftover to freeze. Sweet!