Beginner Gardening: OKRA, Part ll, 0 by Ozark

Ozark wrote:
I've got this pickle-packing thing down now! Shoe, just ignore me because I know you've been pickling okra a lot longer than I have. I pickled six pints of okra picked from the garden today, and between eating okra fresh, freezing it, and pickling it we're not going to have any surplus we can't use.

After experimenting, I've hit on the flavor and the method I like best. I use wide-mouth pint canning jars since the okra needs to be packed tight into the jars and that would be real hard with regular-mouth jars.

In the bottom of each jar I first put a half-clove of garlic and two little Maui Purple Peppers. I cut the tops off the peppers and cut a slit down the sides so brine can come in contact with the hot pepper seeds inside. With scissors I cut the stem as close as possible on each okra pod before I pack it into the jar. I pack longer pods first by laying the jar on its side and putting the pods in stem-down with the pointy ends toward the mouth of the jar. Pods that are longer than the jar is tall I cut in two and pack them the same way - lots of my Stewart's Zeebest pods are very long but still tender.

When I've got the bottom of the jar packed with longer pods until I can no longer get more in side-by-side, I set the jar upright. Then I add a heaping teaspoon of Mrs. Wage's Dill Pickle Mix. I haven't been able to find the Kosher mix Shoe likes better - still looking.

Then I continue packing the jar, with pods point-down in this layer and of a length that pretty well fills the jar. I get as many pods as I can in that way, then maybe lay a couple of pods down sideways to fill any gaps and fill the jar to the top. I can get twenty-some pods in a pint jar, so this is a good way to use up a lot of okra.

I make brine by bringing a mixture of 2/3 water and 1/3 vinegar to a boil. The brine is half of the volume I'm pickling (to allow for a little extra) - so for six pints of pickles today I made three pints of brine, composed of two pints water and one pint vinegar. I add one teaspoon of Kosher salt per pint of brine - I cut that down from the recommended tablespoon because Mrs. Wage's mix is real salty.

Then I fill the jars with boiling brine almost to the top, attach the sanitized lids finger-tight, and boil the jars for 10 minutes in a hot-water canner. I've tried it several ways and found a 10-minute boil makes the "crispy" just right for me and makes the jars seal well, but that's just a personal preference.

These pickles are REAL good, and that's everything I know about packing pickles! LOL