For the Love of Pickling (and Soup!)

My first experience with pickling last year went really well. No one got botulism, and after two rounds of pickling our yellow wax beans, I had a better idea of how much seasoning to put in each jar for maximum flavor. Round 2 of 2017 pickled beans were much better than Round 1!

So, part of my excitement for our current garden crop was to try my hand at pickling again.

I admit, I was a bit disappointed by our bean crop. The yellow beans we had last year grew and grew and grew. The raw yellow beans were the opposite of tasty, so we decided to grow green beans this year. But the green beans we planted were small plants, not the same sprawling vines of their yellow brothers and sisters. So we got enough green beans for one meal, and the rest I picked for pickling a few small jars.

I love how they look in the jars, the colours are so vibrant and fresh looking.

I was two for two! Both jars gave me their satisfying pops when they sealed!

I was also very excited for our carrot crop. We planted about three times as many carrots this year, and two different breeds. I tried to harvest them all before our first huge dump of snow, but I didn't get them all out, and ended up having to excavate some from a foot of snow.

These carrots came in every shape and size you could imagine! So I made three small jars, and two mini jars with carrot nibblets in them. We're hoping we can crack these open at Christmas!

Seven for seven! All these cans popped after processing as well!

And finally... Beets.

You guys, I hate beets. Tom loves 'em, but to me they taste like what I imagine sewage would taste like. Gross, I know. I hate the smell of them, I hate how they dye your hands bright pink, I hate how they dye your insides! But, as a testament to how much I love my husband, I took our remaining beets, and pickled them into a one large remaining jar.

And there you have it, we're eight for eight on successful canning for 2018.

As a final salute to our garden, Tom harvested our onions, and made some homemade French onion soup. It was delicious! Ooey gooey cheese, soft chewy bread, and amazing flavor. Two thumbs up!

On the night we made our French onion soup, we discovered Tom's brother was making borscht out of his garden beets. So we proceeded to have a soup-off, and the weirdest dinner combination, ever (French onion soup and borscht).

And as a beet hater, I will admit, I was leery about the borscht. But it was pretty freaking good!

We've learned some lessons this year with our garden. I'm looking forward to the 2019 gardening season. Lacey will be a little older, and a little more able to help. Maybe she won't blast the plants with the hose from point blank range!