Okra. When easy things become difficult.

It was a beautiful day for the farmers market yesterday, and accompanied by my good friend Jen, we had a lovely time browsing the stalls and admiring all the beautiful produce that is available this time of year. I really want to figure out how to pickle kohlrabi before the season's done! I handed out some of my fabulous new business cards to some of my favorite farmers, and asked them to let me keep me posted about some of the special produce I'm eagerly anticipating is due (thick rind watermelon in particular!!)

But I was on a mission, I knew exactly what I wanted yesterday. Okra. I had seen really beautiful okra last time, and my spicy dilly okra was such a big hit last year I knew I needed to get a jump on it. I also wanted to get more green beans because everyone is asking for a jar of my wasabeans and I only made 6 pints last time (I swear, once I can legally sell these things I'm gonna make a mint!) so I knew I had to make more of those. So optimistic (or is that masochistic?) me planned a double-pickle Saturday.

First up: The Okra!

I need to say right off the bat that I clearly did NOT pay close enough attention to the recipe when it said to choose small pods. I thought I was choosing the smaller of the pods that the farmer had on display. I was so excited and distracted by the beautiful day and a million other beautiful types of produce (this vendor has about 18 different kinds of peppers... even purple ones!) that I ended up choosing about a third of my okra that was simply too huge to fit in any of my jars. Doh! I had some of the 12 oz tall jars, but I was saving those for the the next round of Wasabeans... so I have this much fresh okra left:

Seriously, if anyone wants it, come get it. I'm not going to use it. I really only like it pickled. Hit me up in the next day or two and it's yours. I hate to throw it away, but apparently if you cut the pods and the slime gets in your brine when you're pickling, bad things happen (not like botulism bad, but still)... so HEY KIDS, FREE OKRA!! COME N' GET IT!

So yeah. Wash short okra, trim stems, gather the rest of my ingredients, including a fabulous gift from Jen:

Some beautiful lovely fresh dill! I have lots left over... What to do with all this wonderful dill?? I hate to just stick it in the dehydrator? Do you put dill in tzatziki? I could make that...

Anyway, the rest of the ingredients:

One note: I get my bulk spices at either Good Foods Grocery or Ellwood Thompsons, both super local businesses where you can get just the spices you need for so much cheaper than buying them in jars at any grocery store... seriously, go buy your spices there!! Get some cute little jars at World Market for a buck a piece, you're all set.

Ok, so after losing a third of my okra due to their size, I only got three measly pints packed, and those not as tightly as I would have liked:

So after all that, the end result was

And my cousin Lisa gets one simply for her overwhelming appreciation of last year's okra pickles. The jar in the middle will be the tasting jar, since it managed to fall over in the canner and lose some of its brine. I swear nothing went right with these pickles. But I guess I learned a lot. If everything had gone perfectly I wouldn't have learned very much, now would I?

So feeling very frustrated I proceeded to take a long nap, then watch some netflix and get some dinner. Then about 10:30 I started some more wasabeans! Because nothing cheers my up like pickling! (Well, technically I did it because I had 4 pounds of fresh and beautiful green beans and if I didn't do them then I wouldn't have another chance until Wednesday, and by then they wouldn't be fresh and beautiful anymore....) So you can reference my last entry for the process, substituting tall 12 oz jars for the pints (so I could get 8 jars instead of 6) and about 1:30 in the morning I ended up with:

Yay!! Now there should be enough for everyone to have some... but bribes are still the best way to ensure you get some. Two weeks left until we can taste the first batch!

Now I'm off to my VICFA meeting to talk about how to get homemade pickles legalized in Virginia, so that I can sell you guys my fabulous, wonderful pickles!