I was watching this episode on ME TV...how do you make pickles?

Vinegar, spices, cucumbers + time. There are good recipes online.

An easy way to start out, next time you go to the grocery, buy a pound and a half of fresh habanero peppers, and one of these:

https://i.imgur.com/SiQkKpS.jpg


Chop the peppers up into pieces about the size of the fingernail on your little finger, and jam them down the throat of the bottle until the sphere part is packed.(you will need to remove some vinegar to do this)

Then, sit it in the back of your refrigerator for a month or two. Makes a dandy relish (and steak sauce)

From there, just build on your experience, adding cloves, etc, and the more formal recipes using traditional vegetables.

Personally, I don't think the time element was accurately portrayed on the TV episode. "Whipping up a batch in time for the contest" seems wrong to me

I’m not an expert, but my grandparents used to make dill pickles. They used cucumbers they grew in the in the garden. They would put them in jars with vinegar, dill, and other spices, and put the jars in a pressure cooker to seal them. One could make a batch in a day, but I believe they tasted better if they sat for a while after the process. I don’t recall anyone immediately eating them after making them.

Some polls have this episode ranking as one of the best. It's an OK episode, but it's not in my top 10 list.

In it's strictest sense, I believe that "pickling" is a form of preservative, in the same spirit as curing meat.

When self sufficient people raised their own vegetables, pickling some of the crop was a way of assuring a food supply over the following winter. That's why I think this script distorts the time element.

Preserves that you "put up" in August, were intended to be available in January, etc.

LOL, perhaps "that" is a key element to the script? Aunt Bea's pickles were so undesirable because she rushed her batches?

I'll bet Clara Edwards lazy-aged her blue ribbon masterpieces.

I like sweet pickles ok, but dill nauseates me

One of my favorite episodes. Kerosene cucumbers.

I like sweet pickles ok, but dill nauseates me

Some polls have this episode ranking as one of the best. It's an OK episode, but it's not in my top 10 list.

Agree on both. There are at least 10 episodes better than this one.

I'm not a big fan of "The Pickle Story". Humor seems forced. Whole episode of "these pickles taste bad." 4* out of 10.

I vaguely remember my mother making pickles. She would slice cucumbers and put them in big pot and cover with salt. Then go the beach for a few hours and come back and make the vinegar, spice juice. She'd rinse out out the salty slices and put them in hot juice and I can't remember if she had to heat the jars or the vinegar took care of that. That must have 50 years ago. I wish she was alive to make them now.

Another TAG inconsistency, aunt bea was a very good cook,I find it hard to believe she would make terribly pickles.