The canning looks like it's working well for you.
With the current heat wave here, I have been taking the easy way with all my green beans and Roma beans. I blanch them whole for ~5 minutes in a pot of boiling water, rinse them to cool them quickly, then fill 1 pint freezer Zip Lock bags with the whole beans. These go into the freezer. It's amazing how fast a small freezer compartment fills up.
If you have room for 1 quart jar of pickles in the refrigerator, you can have a try at "fermented" (lactic acid) pickles. I cut the cukes into long wedges, then pack them into a jar with
- mustard seed
- peppercorns
- dill seed
- several whole garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 or 2 dried red peppers
For a brine:
- 1 quart water
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
The brine is heated just enough to dissolve the salt, and is not scalding when poured into the filled jar. The jar is loosely capped, and left at room temperature on the counter for about 3 days (until you begin to see bubbles), then it goes into the fridge for about 3 weeks to finish up. It's not heat processed.
This uses just enough vinegar to suppress mold and yeast long enough for the cucumber's own enzymes to manufacture lactic acid. It's the lactic acid that pickles the vegetable. (If the brine is too hot, it won't work.) These are usually crispier than heat processed vinegar pickles, but they do require refrigeration. It takes only about 10 minutes to put up a jar.
Bob
