For those that remember, I thought I would post a follow-up on my pickle fiascos this year. When I wrote before, I had two separate batches of crock dills that had both obviously gone bad - very soft spots on the pickles, white deposits, not right. We discussed a few potential problems and I started a third batch. I am absolutely certain I measured everything correctly - I double checked several times, besides, what are the chances I would measure wrong three times? The pickles were very fresh, the ends had been cut off, I put them in the basement where the temperature is a bit cooler. Well, they were bad too. I just don't know what the problem was, but I was leaning strongly to something wrong with MY cucumbers.

A neighbor gave me some pickling cukes and I thought "great, now I can test my theory". Unfortunately, some other stuff came up in my life and I never got them started. Likewise, I intended to buy some from the farmer's market and never was able to get around to it. So, I didn't get to test another batch of cucumbers.

The worst part of this is that even though we prefer the crock dills, we also like the quick dills and I didn't even get any of them made! We have zero pickles for the upcoming year :(((( Oh well, our summer got out of control very quickly toward the end and never recovered. If pickles are all we're missing I guess we'll be okay. After all, I can buy Claussens!

Wish me better luck on the pickles next year.

Ann