Bob and I went to the lake for a few days to visit Linda Kay and Skip last week. Linda Kay called before we left and said, "Let's make some dill pickles!" So, as we were leaving the metroplex, Bob and I stopped at the Farmer's Market in Haltom City located at 5507 E. Belknap Street.View Larger Map
They have wonderful fruits and vegetables, honey, jams and jellies, potted plants, and all sorts of goodies that I always enjoy looking at when I visit their family-owned and operated business located between my home and Fort Worth. But I'm getting off-track. I stopped by to purchase some cucumbers, dill, and garlic. They had just what I needed. Shubert ran in before I got off the cell-phone and I knew if I didn't follow him quickly I'd end up with regular size cucumbers instead of the pickling size.
I found him bagging up the wrong ones just in time! We bought about 10 pounds of cucumbers, a sleeve of 5 heads of garlic (it was a better buy but we only used one) and a handful of fresh dill. We stopped by a local Kroger grocery store and bought a gallon of apple cider vinegar. Luckily, I had 13 or 14 pint jars left from last October's pear preserves. I also had a brand new box of Mason lids and rings which we could use. We were all set.
Linda Kay and I didn't get started on our pickles until later in the day on Friday. After all, we had to watch Young and the Restless first!
We had a great time. We made 2 recipes and used all of the cucumbers and all of the jars I had taken to the lake. We put black peppercorns in the pickle strips to see if we liked the taste. I brought half of the pickles home with me and she kept half. Of course, we have to wait at least 7 days to let the flavors meld before trying our pickles! We used Mildred's Quick Dill Pickle recipe which I have posted here. Hope you will try them and let me know what you think.
Photographs by Judith Richards Shubert, July 2009 (c)
