More waiting

So we tasted a jar of the hot pickles today after one week of sitting. They aren't ready yet. As I suspected :). Three more weeks till they are ready for consumption.
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First Big Batch

After an amazing tasting a couple of weeks ago I embarked on my first big batch of pickles.

Not only did we pickle cucumbers this time but we did Carrots, Asparagus, Okra, and Green Beans!

We are going to try a little experiment with this round and taste a jar after only a week to see if the flavor is there.  I still think it will take at least a month to get the full flavor but Tony wants to test it out so I'm willing to give it a try.  So today is the day for that.  More later about the early tasting!

Super Hot's have been the favorites so far so I did a big batch of just those.  I also made a jar of what I call "Stupid Hot" for Granzow.  Can't wait to see how those turn out!

All of the Veggies are Super Hot as well.  Tony thought that would go best with Bloody Mary's.  I agree.  I'm really hoping those turn out tasty.

We also used Calcium Chloride to make the pickles crispier this time.  I hope that helps.  Now it's off to taste our hard work!

Pickle Party!!!!

The Gang's all here!

First off I want to say a BIG "Thank You!!!" to all the friends who were able to make it over on Sunday to taste the fruits of my labor.  You guys are the best.  Special thanks to Dehlia who helped with the food and planning for the day :)

It was finally time to taste our first big batch of pickles so I invited all my closest friends over and we tasted them all.  Out first round was a phenomenal success.  I was pleased to find that this round tasted even better than the first.  Over all people really enjoyed the super Hot and Garlic flavors.  I think we solved the mystery of what makes a pickle crunchy as well.

I plan to make the next round the biggest yet.  We are going to keep the pickles in bigger slices to help with crispness.  We also discovered that the "super" version of everything was the best.  More flavor.  The whole pickles were the crispiest so I'm gonna do more of those.  We also want to start pickling green beans, asparagus, carrots and maybe some ocra and pearl onions for a line of Bloody Mary garnishes.

Another technique we want to try is letting the pickles sit for less time.  Some of the chefs we work with said they only let the pickles brine for 72 hours.  It would be really great if we could get the same amount of flavor in less time.  The great thing is the longer they sit the more flavor they have, so you can't really go wrong keeping them in the jar.

I've already had three people order pickles, so I think we're on to something here!   Lindsay asked for some Bread and Butter pickles.  I'm going to try to find a good recipe for those and make some in the next round.

Now that I've got a couple of good recipes under my belt it's time for Research and Marketing!  Gotta find out all the details about the local Farmer's Markets.  How to get a booth, how much it costs, etc.  I'm also going to make some labels for the jars.  Found a great website that will print custom labels for only $0.58!! That was cheaper than VistaPrint.

Pickles get more exciting each day!  Can't wait to get started on the next batch!

As you can see it was a long day :)