In the News...

Well, the verdict is in! My first canning experience was pretty successful (See In a Pickle…). Well, two out of three ain’t bad. After all of that slaving over my hot stove, I have yummy fruits to show for my labor.

I have to admit; I’ve been in the blackberry jam for a while now. It just didn’t need all of the pickling time the okra and pickles did. It is so delicious! It’s sticky and gooey and superb on toast. I’m so delighted it turned out well.



The next thing I savored was the pickles, and they turned out just like I thought they would, except they are super crunchy! The ice water soak did the trick. I do like a bit of a sourer pickle, but these are great alongside sandwiches. I think next time I make them, I might add a little bit of sour to the mix.

I’m not a big eater of pickled okra, so I let Justin be the tester for those. He says, “They’re kind of funky.” Like I said, two out of three ain’t bad! I tried them myself, and they weren’t very good. I’m pretty sure the problem was a combination of things. The first problem was that I needed to choose shorter stalks of okra. Because the stalks were so long, I could only fit 5 or 6 in a pint size jar. Therefore, there was too much pickling liquid in each jar, which made the okra very stout with vinegar. Oh well, lesson learned.

Overall, it was a great experience. Just the jam is worth the time put into everything. I feel like a pioneer woman now. Maybe I’ll try to churn my own butter next. Well, not really…

It never hurts to try something new. You might succeed; you might fail. But you’ll never know if you don’t try…