Garlic Scapes!

As I type this, I hear my jars popping in the other room, and to me, there's nothing more satisfying after a hot steamy canning session as hearing your jars pop. The sound of a job well done.


So all spring I'd been planning on doing asparagus as my first pickling entry, but I wasn't terribly jazzed about it. Don't get me wrong, I love asparagus. But it's so awesomely good as is, unpickled... just grilled or roasted or sauteed, it didn't seem like a very exciting way to kick off my pickling adventures.


And then I met the mythical garlic scapes. I first met them at my Thursday farmer's market, fascinated I bought a bunch. Sauteed with some olive oil and kale, they were fantastic! Then I got the facebook update that Frog Bottom Farm would be bringing a whole mess of them to the Farmer's Market at St. Stephen's today, and they linked to a blog about garlic scapes, in which there was a brief mention of pickling them.... and immediately I knew what my first pickling experiment would be! Check it out:

2 pounds of Garlic Scapes! How awesome is that?! I was just too excited. Talked to the awesome chick who had just picked them yesterday (sorry I forgot her name!) She was way cool.


Another cool thing is my mom scored this awesome pressure canner on freecycle:

It even had the original owners manual/recipe book with it!

I didn't need the pressure canning capabilities, obviously, but it was great to have a huge canner to replace my significantly smaller one I used last season. I fit five pints and 4 half pints in there! She's letting me test drive it for her, isn't that nice of her? Thanks, mom!


So I'm not giving away my secret recipe... but in a month you're all welcome to taste them with me! I'm not making these to keep, I'm making them to share with anyone who wants to taste them and give me feedback! The goal is to end up with the most fabulous pickling recipes, so that in a year or so, JillPickles can take over the world with the most amazing artisan pickles ever. You shall all be my guinea pigs!


The end result of today's labor:
5 pints and 4 half pints:

Hit me up after June 14th if you want to taste some! I may even be convinced to open a jar early if enough of you guys going on the rafting trip want me to bring one...

Welcome to JillPickles!

So my big plan, back in January, was to do all the html myself, on my own domain and everything... yeah, I'm just not that ambitious. I'd rather spend my time thinking about pickling. I did manage to get one post up, back on January 15th. Then I came to two realizations. One was that the coding was way over my head and I wasn't interested in learning enough to make it work like I wanted it to. The second was that it was the middle of winter, and all the fresh local produce I was dreaming of pickling was months away! And so the blog faltered. Here's a copy of my first posting, full of hope and wonder:

And so it begins. So many pickles to explore, so many techniques, so many fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, meats, fish... I’m looking ahead to the seasons, planning my journey. Pickles have long sustained humankind, and I am going to carry on and expand on that history. They don’t simply have to be a means of preserving the harvest. They can be an amazing culinary experience. I can’t wait to get started!


Now farm market season is here and I have a bounty of fresh veggies to choose from! I picked up something special today, that I can't wait to share with you! What could it be....? You'll just have to wait and see!