Pickled Okra

I took my last jar of pickled okra to a retirement party a few weeks ago so I needed to make some more.   I recruited the help of a dear friend, Marjorie, since I knew she loved pickled okra probably more than I did, plus it would give us a chance to catch up and spend some time together that we don’t get to do very often given our hectic schedules.  She of course accepted my offer and we had a blast!  

Since I don’t have a garden this year, I went to the Raleigh Farmer’s Market to get the produce.  I had figured on getting about 15 pounds of okra in order to make about 4 batches (half of the work in canning is getting everything out and going so why not double-up and make everything more efficient?)  Once I got to the market and saw that the nice, small okra pods were going from around $2.49 to $2.99 a pound, I was in shock.  These were going to be expensive pickled okra!  I finally stopped at a booth that had the lowest price per pound and simply just asked them what they would sell 15 pounds of okra for.   The lady walked away from the booth to speak to an older man back at their truck and she came back and said I could buy a box for $20 which was equivalent to about 15 pounds.  So, my price per pound was $1.33 a pound!  From growing okra many times,  I know that there are no pests that really attack the plants, so I was pretty confident that these were at least pesticide-free.   And given their willingness to work with me on the price, I went ahead and bought my chili peppers and some other produce while I was there.  

Making pickles with a friend is definitely the way to go.   Marjorie and I took turns on the various chores.  She tackled the sink-full of okra first and cutting just a snip off the tip so the okra would absorb all the juices while I snipped the ends off of the peppers, smashed garlic cloves, and prepared the canner, jars, and pickling liquid.   We talked, listened to some music, drank some wine, and made 23 pints of pickled okra.  I’m thinking of recruiting Marjorie’s help for making mustard here soon. 

Hot Pickled Okra (I quadrupled this recipe)

3 cups of water

3 cups of white vinegar

1/3 cup of pickling salt

2 tsp dill seed

3 1/2 lbs of small okra pods, washed and tips snipped off.

12 cloves of garlic (smashed with a knife blade)

12 Thai or small chili peppers washed and tips snipped off.

Prepare canner, jars and lids.

Combine water, vinegar, salt and dill seeds in a large stainless steel pot and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve salt.  Reduce heat and keep warm until ready to ladle into packed jars.

Place 3 garlic cloves and 3 chili peppers into each jar and then pack with clean, trimmed okra pods.  Ladle hot pickling liquid into jars and seal jars.  Place jars into canner and process for 15 minutes.

Pickled this and pickled that.

While writing yesterday’s post on taking my home-made pickles to a retirement party, I realized I started this blog off writing about Home Canning and haven’t posted many of my recipes for homemade pickles.   So, I’ll share a bread and butter pickle recipe, dilled green beans, and a hot, pickled okra recipe. 

‘British’ Bread and Butter Pickles.

I didn’t have enough white sugar to make regular bread and butter pickles one time and found this recipe that uses cider vinegar and brown sugar.  It is now my favorite bread and butter recipe.   I am known to stand in the front of the refrigerator and just eat the pickles right out of the jar!    The pickling spices are the same as regular bread and butter pickles, except for the addition of the turmeric.   And, the turmeric gives them a nice golden color. 

10 cups sliced pickling cucumbers
4 thinly sliced red onions

In glass or stainless bowl or pot, mix well cucumbers, onions and 1/2 cup of pickling salt. Cover with cool water and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

3 cups of cider vinegar
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of celery seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground Ginger

Bring above ingredients to boil in large stainless pot. Rinse vegetables and using hands squeeze dry in colander. Add drained vegetables to boiling vinegar mixture and return to a boil.

Makes 6-8 pints of pickles.

Add pickle crisp to sterilized jars according to instructions. Pack jars with vegetables. Fill packed jars with boiling liquid and seal. Make sure boiling water covers lids Place jars in pot of boiling. 

Pickled Dill Green Beans

I love using these in all kinds of salads from green salads to pasta salads and I use them in sandwiches like dill pickles and in wraps. 

5 pounds of small, stringless green beans, ends snapped off.  (I like to leave my beans whole if they’re small enough, otherwise, you may want to cut them into smaller pieces and remove strings if necessary).

18 whole black peppercorns.

12 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with a knife using the back of your hand.

3 tsp of dill seed.

3 Tbsp of pickling salt.

3 cups of water.

3 cups of white vinegar. 

Prepare jars and lids. 

Place 3 peppercorns, 1/2 tsp of dill seed, 2 crushed garlic cloves, and pickle crisp according to package instructions in each jar. 

Combine salt, vinegar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve salt.  Add green beans, return to a boil, then remove from heat.  Pack beans into hot jars (I get lazy here sometimes and just ‘cram’ the beans into the jars, but if you use some care you can have a nice effect with the green beans all long and vertical in the jar), and then ladle the hot pickling liquid into the jars to cover the beans, leaving a 1/2 inch of head space.  Seal jars and place jars in boiling water canner and boil for 10 minutes. 

Pickled Hot Okra

I haven’t made any of these this year, but I need to as these are most often requested by my friends and I’m down to just 1 jar.   These are a must in bloody mary’s and I just like eating them out of the jar as well.   Do NOT cut the stem off of these.  Just cut the stem end without cutting into the cavity of the pod.   

6 pounds of small, whole okra pods. 

16 cloves of peeled, crushed garlic.

16 Thai chili peppers with ends cut off, leaving pepper intact but open for the hot liquid to infuse the inside of the pepper. 

6 cups of water

6 cups of white vinegar

2/3 cup pickling salt. 

4 tsp of dill seeds. 

Combine water, vinegar, pickling salt and dill seeds, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and keep hot until ready to ladle into jars.  Place  2 crushed cloves of garlic and 2 chili peppers into each jar.  Pack jars with raw okra, ladle hot liquid over okra to within 1/2 inch of top of jar.  Seal jars and boil for 15 minutes in boiling water canner.

So, I posted a picture of my antique (I think) walnut hutch that I got at a thrift store for $100!   I’ll try and post a full picture of it soon and the drawer detail so maybe someone can help me identify it.   In the middle section of the hutch, where the glass door is,  I like to display some of my canned goods as you can tell.  And this is also where I keep my growlers, when empty, for what pickles me!  Aviator is a small, but growing, micro-brewery located here in quaint, little Fuquay-Varina where I live.   I love their beer and have grown quite fond of the entire Aviator crew.   If you’re ever in the greater Raleigh area, check out their tap house in downtown Varina, or if on a Saturday, they give tours of the brewery not too far down the road.     As you might can imagine, I love all things crafted with care and produced on a local basis.  Have you ever thought about what’s in your Miller Lite or Budweiser?  Or where it’s being shipped from and the fuel costs associated with that?  Oh, but I’ve digressed, and that is the topic of another post.