Pickled Asparagus
I say "first of the summer", however, these two bunches of asparagus found me on the night before the last day of school! On my way home from the 2nd to last day of school I found myself feeling the urgent need to get summer started right now. Lucky for me there is a little stand on my way home and the sign reading Asparagus jumped out at me!
I know, I know, the night before the last day of school? My friend Brittany and I call this a Pam moment (named after a fellow teacher who stayed up all night long painting her dining room the night before the first day of school!) We often have these moments, where life just can't wait and you need to get that project done right now... Some of you may remember that I painted all of the woodwork in my house two days before my wedding. Or there was the time that I put up and entire tree's worth of apple sauce and leather the night we returned from a two week vacation... Some may call this relieving your stress onto something else, however, I prefer to call it seizing the moment!... and sometimes using up nervous energy, ahem.
So back to the asparagus. Once home I quickly set to sterilizing my jars, washing the two bunches of asparagus and mixing up my pickling liquid. In years past I have always tried to put up multiple recipes at a time, whether that be pickles, jam or fruit butters... well I always end up in a tizzy because the timing is off and I don't have 14 hands you know! So, this canning season my goal is to put up one recipe at a time... oh, it all seems so relaxing that way :)
Notice, the jar in the back with the white lid... that one went straight to the fridge to cure and be the lucky tester of the batch, I did not process that jar
It all whipped up very quickly and there I was standing all casual in a clean kitchen with 6 jars of pickled asparagus to show when The Mr. came home from work! An evening well spent if I do say so myself!
For this round, I followed the recipe for Pickled Asparagus in The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich. This was my first recipe of hers, but she is thought to be quite the bee's knees amongst fellow canners and picklers, so I am sure I will have nothing but wonderful words to share about this asparagus once it's three week rest is up... oh I can't wait!
If you are looking for a pickling books, I would highly recommend this one! She has a recipe for every single thing you never even thought you would want to pickle! Just flipping through the pages leads my mind to wandering and dreaming about a larder full of jar upon jar of delicious pickles!
*** So sorry for the fuzzy pictures... good thing I have all summer to work on that little blip!***
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