We had selected a date and planned a trip to market. Doris, my canning partner and friend, and I were going to make pickles. And this time we’d include two young ladies in my family to help us. The girls love dill pickles, so as this was a tradition, their Mom felt it was a good year to include them in the tasks, as much as possible.

This year, we also decided to try out a new recipe for bread and butter pickles. Chef John, online, made it look so easy in his video, so we were game to try it.

A favourite long-time recipe

We headed off to our favourite market early in the morning. I’d promised the girls some time to look around as well as getting our produce.

little animals

The girls had some fun in the children’s corner and we all got a snack and a drink. When we’d gathered our cucumbers, dill, peppers and onions and such, we headed for home.

After washing the cucumbers, there were dill stems to trim and garlic to peel. We’d do the dill pickles first and the sweet ones afterwards. The girls did a great job of helping with the washing and trimming, then putting ingredients in the clean sterilized jars for the dill pickles. They could stand back and see the results of their work.

It reminded me of helping my Mom in the garden and in the kitchen when I was their age and older in canning times.

Lunch came between but it had to be simple and little mess. When we reached a certain point, with the dill pickles bottled and cooling, and the sweet pickle ingredients marinating, we had time to spend with the girls playing a few games. Then it was back to work.

The sweet pickle process took the rest of the day. The kitchen was quite consumed with jars and boxes and bags, but the work surfaces and appropriate utensils were always clean.

We wished the video had gone a little further to include the water bath canning so we had to do a little research on the appropriate time, but we got it done. The kitchen smelled like a canning factory, with such a pleasant aroma. Lots of clean-up to be sure, and all those pickles to enjoy over fall and winter.

Yummy bread and butter pickles

Before the season is over, I’ll share a photo of my cold cellar shelves. Right now they’re still a little bare, but beginning to fill with yesterday’s results.

I hope you’re enjoying the last of summer and that you’ll consider benefits of preserving and freezing the bountiful crops of the season.