Makin stuff

Note: this is what I get for blogging from my phone! I thought this had been published weeks ago. Oh well, I guess today will be a two-fer.

As an update (and giveaway of how long ago this SHOULD have gone up) both pickles and mustard became edible this week and are AMAZING. We're half way through the jalapeno-dill jar already.

If I make them again...ok, ok. WHEN I make them again, I'll either use more jalapenos or let them sit longer. They've got great flavor but very little heat, after the last jar they're quite different. Due to being the last jar opened they had been marinating for an extra 3 months or so. Those things had kick!

Anyways, I highly recommend both recipes. Yum!

 Enjoy ;)

No gardening update tonight I'm afraid...I've got some pretty big changes coming though so get ready for that next week.

Tonight I did something easy, satisfying, and delicious...in a while.

In both cases it's the second time I've made the recipe, and I tweaked a few things. We shall see how the difference translates to the finished product.

Mustard
A few months ago I stumbled across an article talking about how easy it was to make mustard. I'm all about easy, and since its also much cheaper AND tastier its a win all around.

I went and bought three kinds of mustard seeds; yellow, black and red. I got quite a bit, mostly because the spice market only had fairly large quantities, but I paid less than $20 for enough mustard seeds to easily last the two of us at least a year. Compare that to fancy artisan mustard from the store at $6-8 per tiny jar...yeah. Homemade wins.

I don't even know if I can even call this a recipe...

1 cup mustard seeds (I do a mix, 2/3 cup yellow, 1/3 cup mixed red and black)
1 cup vinegar (I'm using apple cider vinegar this time)
1/2 cup water

Mix everything together in a jar and let it sit, covered, on the counter 24-48 hours.
Blend it (I use my immersion blender, but a normal one would work too)
Add salt to taste.

Seriously easy. And SO good! The trick is that once its blended you leave it to sit on the counter a few more days. Taste it every day and when it's mellowed enough for you put it in the fridge. Last time it took about a week or so for it to mellow enough for me.

We've been putting it on everything and it's way better than store bought.

Pickles
This recipe is for fridge pickles. I tried it for the first time in August last year, because I wanted to make pickles and without a pressure cooker I was limited to fridge pickles...they turned out amazingly and didn't last nearly long enough.

When I saw local mini cukes on sale at the store I knew I'd found a solution to my craving...a long term solution.

This is another crazy easy recipe, but it requires more patience than the mustard recipe.

10 cups water
2 heads garlic
5 cups vinegar
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp pickling (coarse) salt
1 Tbsp each of: yellow mustard seeds, black peppercorns, dill seeds
Fresh dill sprigs

Boil water and peeled garlic 5 minutes
Add vinegar and salt, boil to dissolve salt
Wash 2 lbs cucumbers and halve or quarter lengthwise if desired
Using sanitized jars, divide the whole spices evenly between your jars, then divide the garlic into the jars. (I add a bit of fresh dill to the bottom of the jars to)
Put cucumbers into the jars, pack tightly
Coil a sprig of dill into the top of each jar, using it to wedge the cukes in tightly to prevent floating
Ladle in the brine to cover everything
Optional: add 2-3 slices of jalapeno pepper...dill, jalapeno and garlic pickles are AWESOME, which I know due to experimenting with the first batch.

Cover the jar tops with clean cloths, securing them with elastic, and let sit on the counter 3 days. Refrigerate 3 weeks...eat them all in one day ;)

One of the best things about fridge pickles is once you've eaten all the pickles you can reuse the brine with whatever veggies you want. Awesome.

Enjoy your delicious home made condiments! :)