Progress is a Process

Ohhhh, the horrible memories of canning from my youth...

My parents both worked, so it always meant starting the process in the evening. 

Washing every cucumber by hand. Washing and boiling every old used jar before a cucumber can be put in it.  Then start packing cucumbers in the jars.

I actually enjoyed packing the jars with my Dad, just because he made everything fun.

Mom would make the brine on the stove and the kitchen would start to get hot.  Then another canner of water would start to heat up on the stove for the hot water sealing process. It's getting hotter, open the back door and let the hot summer breeze in.  Now the smell of dill and vinegar is drifting from our kitchen down the road towards the neighbors.

The muggy heat is stifling, everybody's tired and there's still a 1/2 bushel of cucumbers to stuff in jars and heat process yet.  Those were some long unforgettable nights at our house.

Thank goodness for progress.

Pickleman and I have quite a different process going than in the old days!!

It's not the way my parents used to can...

A whole separate kitchen just to do pickles...how cool is that!

Brining the pickles, all 20, that's three times more than Mother did at a time.

Hot water / steam bath in the deluxe pickle processor!

It still gets pretty steamy at full capacity, but it's a small price to pay.

Pickles go on the shelf to let the dill, garlic, pepper and spices do their thing.

The longer they sit, the "hotter" they'll get.  We've had some really zowiee wowie pickles over a year old!!!

Still sealed, still crunchy, but who can leave them alone that long???

I'm hungry for a pickle just as soon as they come out of the processor!!