Apricots chopped and ready for jam

Blueberry syrup cooking on the stove

This week I did something I haven't done before: I put cucumbers and cabbage in a brine in an attempt to make pickles and sauerkraut. I'm feeling pretty cool. We'll see how I feel in 3 weeks or so -- when they're supposed to be done. I'll get to that in a second, but I have to tell you how good my blueberry butter and blueberry syrup turned out. Yum. Yum. Yum. The blueberry butter is simply divine on a fresh, warm bagel. I made waffles over the weekend and the syrup was perfect. Here's a bonus: They are both made from the same batch of berries. I'm entirely proud of myself. All the recipes I'll share with you today are from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving. It's published by Canada's Robert Rose publishers, but available from my new favorite publisher (aside from the one that actually publishes me) http://www.fireflybooks.com. (My hotlinks aren't working, sorry)
I discovered Firefly Books quite by accident. Actually, I believe it was more by Divine intervention. They ended up on my doorstep as a gift from a vendor, but it took me a few weeks to figure that out. For a while it looked like they just appeared out of nowhere.  They have a wonderful selection of cooking and food preservation books. My goal through the winter is to read through all of them.

Cucumbers  ready to brine

Back to canning. If you'd like the blueberry recipes, let me know and I'll post it, but it's pretty long. For now, we'll focus on my pickling adventure. I picked up 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers at a local farmers market. It was the end of the day and the woman selling them was ready to make a deal.
I have always wanted to try to do pickles in a long-term brine, but for whatever reason, never managed to get it done. I've been collecting old crocks for years. While many of them are cracked and not really suitable for anything but decoration, I have a few in great condition. I cleaned them well and got them ready for action.
I cut both ends of the pickles. Technically you only have to cut off the blossom end, but I figured I'd take of the stem too -- just to make sure I didn't accidently miss a blossom end -- that could lead to some spoilage. The fresh dill and pickling mix is added then cucumber stacked on top. The salt brine is heated then poured over the pickles and then topped with garlic, more dill and pickle mix. A large dinner plate is turned upside down and weighted to hold the pickles down. The whole crock is then covered with a clean towel and kept in a cool place.
I have an extra house -- an old farmhouse we use as my office and a guest house -- so I'm storing my crocks in the bathtub there.

The first head of cabbage goes in the crock

My faithful assistant squeezes the cabbage to help get the juices flowing

The cabbage in the crock with weights and ready to be covered.

The sauerkraut is a very similar process. I used 5 large heads of cabbage. We shredded one head at a time and then sprinkled 3 tablespoons of pickling salt over each layer. The cabbage will produce it's own liquid and also needs to be covered with a plate, weighted and covered with a towel.
Each day we have to check the brine in both crocks. As the products ferments, it will create a foam which needs to be removed.
I've been trying to get this posted for about 3 days and having computer issues -- as in the slowest connection in the west. Originally I had all sorts of profound things to say, but am so frustrated right now I can't think of any of them..