Now that I’m back from my travels, I’m going back to the farmers market for inspiration, both for personal use, and for Freakin’ Flamingo.

I love pickles. I can’t think of any meal that a pickle can’t perk up. You know that I’ve made pickles before – pickled asparagus, pickled carrots, pickled spring onions & green garlic, even pickled cantaloupe. What I haven’t pickled yet, are cucumbers. Mostly because I hadn’t seen pickling cucumbers around here that are local and worth the effort.

That’s changed. I recently found a vendor at the South Miami Farmers Market with some of the prettiest – and tastiest – local produce I’ve ever had. Seems I can now get limes and key limes grown locally, not from Mexico or Guatemala. And I can now get pickling cucumbers! In my latest outing this weekend, Laura tossed a few cukes into my box so I could try them out before buying a boatload next weekend.

So, I canned up a quick quart and this is what I came up with:

Spicy Garlic Pickles
(makes 1 quart)

Ingredients:

2 cups white vingegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbs. pickling/canning salt

4 pickling cucumbers
1 serrano chili pepper
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds
1 tsp. whole dill seed
1 large clove garlic

Preparation:

Bring the vinegars, water, and salt to a boil in a 2-quart pot.

Slice the cukes in half, lengthwise, or leave whole if you prefer. Heat (or sterilize) a one-quart canning jar and fill the hot jar with the cucumbers (stuff ‘em in there!). Make a long slit in the serrano pepper, give the peeled garlic clove a good whack with the flat of your knife blade, and insert those into the jar, followed by the whole spices.

Fill the jar with the boiling brine, leaving 1/2″ of head space, wipe the mouth of the jar with a clean, very damp paper towel, top with a new, heated lid, and add the screw-on band, tightening finger-tight.

Place the filled jar in a boiling water canner, or even a tall stock pot with a rack in the bottom (make sure you have at least 1″ of water over the top), and boiled, covered, for 15 minutes.

Allow to meld for a minimum of one or two weeks before eating.

Notes:

If you don’t want to boiling water process these, you can put the jar in the fridge after it’s cooled, but it may take a bit longer for the flavors to develop. Also, they have to live in your fridge. One of the benefits of water canning process is that you can leave them in your pantry for months.

I’m going to pop these babies open next weekend, and I can’t wait!

Hey – stay tuned for some special announcements, including some promotions for Freakin’ Flamingo!

For the final Can Jam of 2010 – but hopefully, not the last Can Jam ever – Tigress herself picked the key ingredient: Dried Fruit. I knew I wanted to use something a little bit out of the ordinary, and settled on one of my favorites – dried mango. And since I haven’t canned a chutney this year for Can Jam, I thought it was high time that I did. I was inspired by some of the flavors common to Bengal, in northern India. This isn’t a terribly traditional version, but delicious nonetheless!

Bengal-Style Chutney
(yield: 3 pints)

Ingredients:

10 oz. carrots
1-1/2 lbs apples
1 large onion (about 8 oz)
2/3 cup dried mango (chopped into roughly 1/4 – 1/2″ pieces)
4 dried chili peppers, crushed
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado or demerara)
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 Tbs ground ginger
1 Tbs curry powder (I used hot Madras curry powder)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 Tbs honey
1-2/3 cups cider vinegar

Preparation:

Peel the carrots and slice into thin coins – about 1/8″. Peel and core the apples, then chop roughly into about 1/2″ dice. Peel the onion, cut in half, and slice into very thin half-rounds. Place everything into a large saucepan (at least 4 quart).

Add all of the remaining ingredients, stir well, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and allow to simmer for about 45 – 50 minutes, or until reduced and thickened.

Ladle the hot chutney into hot, sterilized jars – leaving 1/2″ head space, cover with new lids, and tighten rings finger-tight. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Check your seals in 24 hours. Any excess can be put into a sealable container and refrigerated.

While you can certainly eat the chutney right away, it’s at its best if allowed to meld for at least a couple of weeks. Try to control yourself.

This Bengal-Style Chutney is sweet, savory, and spicy all at the same time. Don’t wait for an Indian meal – this is a condiment that compliments so many different foods! Try it with chicken, turkey, and I imagine, even pork or a nice tofu steak.

Happy Holidays to all of my fellow Can Jammers!

By the way, have you been following
Share Our Holiday Table is a progressive holiday dinner party consisting of 7 courses over 4 tracks (Gourmet, Family Friendly, Vegetarian, and Gluten Free), with over 50 bloggers participating, to raise money for Share Our Strength during the critical holiday season. I’ll be posting a vegetarian side dish on Monday, December 13th, but here’s what’s been happening so far:

December 9: Soup

Gourmet

• edible cville
• The Runaway Spoon (read the post)
• A Girl, A Market, A Meal (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Ladles and Jellyspoons (read the post)
• Two Dollar Dinners (read the post)
• All About Alton Brown
• Cookie Central’s Great American Bake Sale (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Good Life Eats (read the post)
• Feed Our Families (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Celiac Teen (read the post)
• Celiacs in the House (read the post)
• Gluten Free Life with Jen
• And Love it Too! (read the post)

December 8: Salads

Gourmet

• The Bitten Word (read the post)
• girlichef (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Food For My Family (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Glugle Gluten-Free (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Add a Pinch (read the post)
• Gluten Free Diva (read the post)

December 7: Drinks

Gourmet

• Food Woolf (read the post)
• The Gringo Chapin (read the post)
• Neo-Homesteading (read the post)
• Three Many Cooks (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Fat Wuz Here (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Lexies Kitchen (read the post)
• Simply Sugar and Gluten Free (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Gluten Free Easily (read the post)

December 6: Appetizers

Gourmet

• The Italian Dish (read the post)
• Recipe Girl (read the post)
• Neo-Homesteading (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Family Fresh Cooking (read the post)
• Giving Up on Perfect (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Two Peas and Their Pod (read the post)
• Smith Bites (read the post)

Gluten Free

• La Fuji Mama (read the post)
• Wenderly (read the post)

Please visit these terrific blogs and consider donating to Share Our Strength.