DIY -- Pickles for summer

Next week is the first farmer's market of the year but I already made a lot of the pickles I'll eat this summer.

I have 3 jars each of kimchi and Amish sweet pickled cabbage in the fridge, a jar each of giardiniera, chow chow, Mexican carrot pickles, melanzane sott'oglio, marinated artichoke hearts, and Brussels sprouts.

I used up the end of the horseradish root from Passover to put up in vinegar with a little celery seed and brown sugar.

I got some cucumbers and made some misozuke, tsukemono, sweet mustard slices, and india relish. Need another one for spicy Chinese slices.

I found some broccoli with reasonably long stems and that is marinating in oil and vinegar and garlic.

Next week it's sauerkraut, pickled and frozen beet root and turnips, and blanched and frozen greens.

I have a new recipe for half sours but that will have to wait until late in summer, along with the pickled okra, yellow squash, zucchini, green and wax beans, and piccalilli.

Now look in your fridge. How many of these things do you have in  there?  What did you pay? How many of the ingredients can you find in the store to buy separately, and how many can you not even pronounce?

That's why I DIY. More ingredients I can say and fewer worries about what those chemicals are doing to my body.  And most of these things are half the price DIY compared to buying those tiny jars. Some are less than half.

OK you have to give up a few hours of video games or Outlander to run around the kitchen and slave over a hot chopping board. Which burns calories. Which is what doctors are starting to wise up to.  All that money we spend on those tiny jars puts calories on our butts that wouldn't be there if we saved money making our own.

Which is true with pretty much all DIY.

So seriously, is that even a choice?

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved