Post #500!
Wow! It's been fun to share so much of my life with you! If you recall, I have been dabbling in fermenting the last few months. I've made sauerkraut and pepper sauce and sauersprouts and apple cider vinegar. I learned a lot and I keep on learning. This year I want to try fermenting pickles. It was on my list for last year but, maybe you remember, my garden was a bust. No cucumbers to even make refrigerator or canned pickles were to be had. (Insert big frowny face here.)The other day I ran across an interesting sounding recipe for Dill Pickle Soup. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Maybe you have. Maybe you make it and really enjoy it. Maybe you tried it and thought it was disgusting. Anyway, over here on this little acre, it has never even been heard of. And my curiosity won't let it go. Tonight there is a big snow coming and I plan to make pickle soup. One of the main ingredients is, big surprise, pickles. So I went to town today just to buy pickles. I know, I know, not frugal at all. But hey, somebody had to buy the pickles while everyone else in the county was getting their french toast supplies. Bread, milk, and eggs were flying off the shelves...poor lonely pickles.
Next year, hopefully, I will have a nice supply of my own pickles. I'm really looking forward to trying. I did have one little problem with my past ferments, though. All of the solid food had to be submerged under the liquid/brine it was fermenting in. I accomplished this by placing a plastic disc (cut out from a cottage cheese lid) on top of the food and then placing a jelly jar filled with water on top of the disc for weight. That worked. Except the whole contraption needed to be covered with a protector- coffee filter, cheesecloth, etc... that was banded down to keep out gnats and flies. It was a real headache to keep the entire thing from tipping. And if I needed to move it out of the way, I held my breath so it wouldn't spill. But now I've found an answer to this problem and I want to share it with you!... and that brings us to the GIVEAWAY: (finally!)
Arriving at my home tomorrow (thank you Amazon!) are two sets of these: Pickle Pebbles Plus! (Try saying that 6 times fast!)
One set will go into my fermenting kit and the other will go to a lucky winner here! Woo hoo! No more sloppy jars on my counter! These little gems claim to be clear, lead free, food grade, glass weights made for wide mouth mason jars. If you aren't into fermenting, these would make a great gift for someone who is. Or maybe you'd like to decoupage a pretty picture on them and make paper weights. To be eligible, simply leave a comment here saying you'd like to be entered- sorry, continental U.S. only. A winner will be randomly chosen on January 29, 2016.
