Tuesday Sundries - In A Pickle!

Sunday was my first day off in almost a week and I was to pick up Lady K for an overnight stay with me. And the weather was turning hot again. That meant I needed to get up and harvest some herbs to dry in the oven.

I had a large container of basils, oregano, thyme, mint, chocolate mint, lemon balm, pineapple sage, and chives. 

This is my first year of really attempting to dry and save some of the herbs I am growing. Luckily, they are all in containers so I can keep fresh herbs for most of the year. But I would like some dried herbs for cooking also. And some of them, like the mints and lemon balm, I would like to try to add to teas.

I also decided to try my hand at some herbal vinegar. I would like to be able to add to a bit of oil for salad dressings or to give a 'pop' to cooking.

I have, from left to right, purple basil, then a mixed herb vinegar. The mixed herb vinegar has chives, oregano, a bit of green onion, garlic, sage, and thyme. Then some green basil vinegar. These first three vinegars I made with rice and/or white wine vinegar. The last one is a lemon balm with a couple of slices of lemon in raw apple cider vinegar.

With a refrigerator drawer filling up with peppers, mainly hot ones, and cucumbers, I needed to use them or lose them.

These are for Texter and Savvy. I 'found' a recipe for Homemade Claussen Dill Pickles. They are my dill pickle consumers. I am hoping they do come out to be a really crispy dill pickle.

These are for me (hopefully) as I like sweet pickles. What I found interesting is you use black tea as an ingredient to help make them crispy. 

Finally, are my hot peppers which I have picked. A variety of types in green and purple.

The cayenne-type peppers I just cut the tops off of to all the vinegar to get inside. The others, I sliced and can use them easier on nachos and other recipes. 

So to date with my harvest:

• 4 - 1/2 pint jars of herbal vinegar
• 2 quarts dill pickles
• 1 quart and 2 - 1/2 pints of sweet pickles
• 4 - 1/2 pints and a bit of pickled peppers
• a handful of green beans

If I remember I hope to record the majority of my harvest during the summer. I think it will be interesting to see what was done with what I have grown.