Miriam's Garden: This heat has her in a pickle of her own making

The other day -- one of those hot, sticky, steamy, dog days -- I acted like any other overzealous gardener with a fridge full of homegrown cucumbers. I made pickles and processed them in my boiling-water canner.

First up were sweet dill chips. These had to first crisp in a bowl of ice water, so meanwhile, I sliced some other pickling cukes into long, thin tongues, trying out a new recipe, Sandwich-Sliced Dill Pickles from "The Joy of Pickling" by Linda Ziedrich. Stacked lengthwise in the jar, they're packed with lots of chopped garlic, hot pepper flakes, black peppercorns and dill. These slices promise to be extra-zesty and I can't wait to try them in a few weeks. Most pickles need mellowing time before you can dive into the jar.

The slices needed a soak in salt brine for several hours, so after processing the sweet dill chips, I did what any crazed canner does. I made jam.

You see, I was deep in the processing zone. The jars were already in the dishwasher, the lids had been sterilized, the metal rings washed and dried. There were raspberries in the freezer picked in the last couple of weeks. The canner and I were hot and ready to go. I couldn't waste the momentum or the energy.

This involved more boiling water, more steam, more cycles of the dishwasher and more careful attention. But now, I am proud to say, there are seven half-pints of raspberry jam to start the winter toast season for my husband, David.

I then finished up the sandwich slices and cleaned up most of my mess. Made dinner. The house stayed steamy all night, and not in the good way.

Luckily, I also make a couple other pickles that require much less heat. In a good season, and this is a pretty good one, my garden produces lots of cucumbers. I always need more recipes for preserving one of my favorite harvests, along with new twists for cucumber salads.

One standard pickle at our house is Grandma Rubin's Kosher Dills, really my great-grandmother's recipe. From the old country, we believe. They're brined in a crock, then refrigerated. Another is a new standard: a crisp, sweet chip mixed with cubes of red bell pepper. I sampled these last year, while demonstrating Grandma Rubin's dills at a Slow Food Pittsburgh pickling event. They're not processed either, but they are cooked -- just for a moment. Then stored in the fridge.

At the demo, these pickles were called Susie Treon's Sweet Pickle Chips, but when I spoke to Susie, she said she always calls them bread-and-butter pickles. Also, they were not originally her pickle. The recipe was given to her by an old friend, Nancy Gates, and Nancy thinks that the recipe might have come from her husband's aunt.

Good sweet pickle recipe - Adoption.com Forums

Does anyone have a good sweet pickle recipe for canning? Or i guess a bread and butter pickle recipe. which is like the same. My DH loves them and i HATE them. So ive been canning dill pickles and refridgerator pickles the past 2 weeks, and DH says to me last night... when are you going to do sweet pickles? i was like, NEVER!! But i guess if i can find a good recipe i will do him up a few pints of sweet pickles. Any good recipies out there to share with me?? TIA.

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