There are many garden delights that people enjoy in the summer — sweet corn, peas, beans, squash, melons, strawberries, some people even like tomatoes — but cucumbers ripening on the vine sing a siren song of summer like no other vegie can. If you scan the garden and also see garlic, dill and maybe some spicy peppers, you can guess what that gardener has in mind: pickles!
Nothing says summer like pickles fermenting in the crock! So, once again it was time to travel to Franksville to visit my sister Mary Ann’s garden to see what was ready to pick. In recent years she has subcontracted some of her work out to Joann’s Organic Garden, so a drive to Union Grove was also in order. I was not disappointed. Mary Ann, Joann, and their hard-working apprentice Anna, filled my car with more than enough ingredients for my first pickle making session of the summer.
I spent the next day surrounded by pickle-packing produce with the smell of garlic and vinegar filling the air. It was a bit of work but time well spent since I will soon be munching on my new batch of spicy, crunchy Aunty Min’s Pickles.