I really miss having a senior mentor

[turnnut]

Happy belated Birthday Jim.
I am 3 years & 3 months behind you, where does the time go ?

pickled eggs & pickles are 2 of my favorite snacks.  Thursday I had gone to a farm stand that opens for the season, they had advertised their own fresh picked pickling cukes, well, I bought
some and put up 1 quart of whole dill pickles (cold process) of which we will open for Thanksgiving dinner.  plus a pint of "counter top/refrigerator pickles (quartered) that you are supposed to be able to eat in 3 days, but I waiy at least a week.

my "PICKLED EGGS: I hard boil a dozen at a time, cool them, put them in the refrigerator for a day, wash a  jar with HOT SOAPY water,  then start peeling the eggs and put in jar, most of the time a dozen is too many, so I have boiled eggs to snack on also.

         recipe;    2 cups vinegar, (white or red cider vinergar) " I prefer cider vin. for the taste.)
                       1 teaspoon mixed pickling spice
                       1 tablespoon sugar
                       1 teaspoon salt  ( I use kosher salt ) you can use sea salt.
                       1 medium lemon; peeled and sliced.

put the ingrediants in a pan and simmer for about 8 minutes, then just strain the liquid over the eggs in the jar, make sure the eggs are covered with the liquid.  put cover lightly on the jar and
leave on the counter til it cools, then cap the jar and put in the refrigerator. some eat them in
3 days, Me, I wait 5 or 6 days for a stronger flavor.

you do not need a canning jar, a used pickle jar will do,  sometimes I also use small jam jars that will hold 3 eggs, as the grandchildren loves pickled eggs and grandpaws sour/dill pickles.

good luck, and let us know if you try & like them.  Frank   

[jimwrench]

 used all my vinegar cleaning tools but got 2 gal today. Recipe I used= 4 cup vinegar;1 tsp salt;2 medium onions ( I used some minced onions);1/3 cup sugar;1 tbsp. pickling spice. Boil 5 min. I added a little tabasco but coundn't taste it. Think I'll combine a couple recipes and see what comes out.

[turnnut]

Jim,  keep trying differant variations;
write down all your combo's,  then when you do one that you really like, you will know
what you put in it.

I play around making pickles, a few years ago I made a batch that I really liked, but
could not remember my mixture. it took a while to come close to that one.

cold process takes me 3 months before I open one, and it is easy to forget.

now I make little recipe cards, keep the ones that I like and throw out the rest.

it has been years since I made pickles in a crock, I used a 8 gallon crock, but the was back
when the house was full of kids.

[stillfishin]

All this talk of pickled eggs and cucumbers is sure making my mouth water. Have you guys ever tried pickled green beans? They are very very good too. But the best of all is pickled asparagus, simply fantastic. Pickle it with a clove of garlic in the jar.... dang good stuff!

[Yadda]

I find Lots of Mentors here, Not only with old tools, but with life in general... Like any community, the elders share their knowledge... We all have something to share.. As a Baby Boomer I ain't no spring chicken, but still learning...

As one of the last years in the Baby Boomer generation I find that I tend toward wanting to know more about older things than newer ones.  Old tools  and history are more interesting than iphones. As long as I can watch the Braves, Auburn Tigers and Texans on TV I don't care how many channels I have available....