Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 9:46AM 
What is it about Bread & Butter Pickles? Some people tell me they only like Dill Pickles, but when I give them a little taste of my Bread & Butter Pickle Slices, they light up right away.
Is it the crispy-crunch?
The harmonic blend of sweet & savory?
Maybe it's the nostalgia factor.
I know for me it's all three of these things.
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 4:49PM
That's right. It's a tiny cucumber. I found it in with my latest batch of pickling cukes and I couldn't resist snapping a photo of it.
This is your last reminder from me that pickling cucumber season is almost over. You'd better hurry up and get your fresh cukes and start pickling. Now. If you want to have to have a pickles in your pantry all year 'round, n-o-w is the time to get busy!
So far this year I've turned bucketfuls of cukes into Blue Ribbon Dills, Deli-style Dill Spears and Bread & Butter Pickle Slices and I know that here in Western Washington Duris Cucumber Farm will only have fresh-picked-daily pickling cucumbers for another week or two.
As the Roman poet Horace famously said "Carpe Diem".
Maybe I should say, "Carpe Cucumbers"!
Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 1:33PM Sometimes those of us who preserve get caught up in the moment.
One day I've got a lug of pretty "Perfection" apricots, and I end up making a 2 dozen half-pints of Perfection Apricot Jam.
The next day I forage for berries, and before I know it a full-to-the-brim basket of berries turns into 4 jars of Wild Red Huckleberry Jam.
Then "Delp Hale" peaches are in season, so it's Peach-Bourbon Jam...
...and so on.
In the coming months, I plan to share some of my many ideas for "using up" my growing collection of jam; the jam I make, the jam I've been given as gifts, or the jam I've traded jelly or pickles for at a food swap.
Here's my first jam suggestion:
A spoonful of apricot jam on a dollop of plain yogurt.
Simple, yet super-tasty and probably better for you than whatever they're putting in the bottom of your store-bought "flavored" yogurt.
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:20PM I think most people buy their "Pickling Spices" already blended, and there's nothing wrong with doing that. Pickling spice blends are not just used for pickling recipes, such as cucumber dill pickles and pickled beets, pickled salmon & pickled herring and pickled eggs. The zesty spice blend is what gives corned beef it's unmistakeable flavor as well as other types of cured meats, like bacon. It livens up certain soups & stews, and various rice dishes and is a necessary component of a classic crab or shrimp boil.
If you make any of the aforementioned dishes in your home, you might enjoy creating custom pickling spice blends from scratch.
(I bet you had no idea pickling spice blends were so popular!)
Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 1:53PM Got Peaches?
Yes, that's a BIG peach balanced atop a coconut.
So you've got a few pounds of perfectly-ripe peaches but can't decide whether to make something sweet or spicy?
Make both. I gotcha' covered.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 8:52PM 
Some of you know I was on the radio this morning. I had a wonderful time chatting with Jamie Peha of Peha Promotions, and her co-host, well-known restauranteur "Chef in the Hat" Thierry Rautureau about all things pickled.
Included on the show that day, to talk about TomatoFare2011, were Roy Breiman, Culinary Director of the much-acclaimed Copperleaf Restaurant & Bar, which is located within the gorgeous 18 acre Cedarbrook Lodge, and Mark Bodinet, the Executive Chef of CopperLeaf Restaurant & Bar.
We learned a lot from each other, laughed a lot (sometimes at each other) and I think you might enjoy listening to it too.
Here's the audio portion from today's Table Talk radio show.
~~~~~~~
Right after the radio show, we had another fun conversation in the hallway about a jar of home-made fermented "sour" pickles Jamie brought with her this morning. The conversation was caught on Jamie's iPhone.
In this short video, Jamie Peha interviews (cross-examines?) me about whether or not her first batch of home-made pickles, made from her family's 50-year-old recipe, are safe to eat!
For more information about fermenting* cucumbers to make pickles check out my blog post from one year ago, entitled "NYC-style Sour Dill Pickles...the fermentation is finished!"
*No vinegar is used in the fermentation process.
Monday, September 12, 2011 at 8:36AM
Updated on Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 4:52PM by
Brook Hurst Stephens
Updated on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 8:30AM by
Brook Hurst Stephens
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Listen up...I'm going to show you how to use your whole ear.
Your ear of sweet corn, that is.
Let's start with Sweet Corn Relish. Have you ever tried it? I think it's mostly a Southern thing, but I guarantee it tastes pretty darn good right here in the Pacific Northwest.
Sweet Corn Relish is full of crunchy goodness. The freshness of the sweet corn is evident in every tasty bite and its brine is reminiscent of Grandma's old-fashioned Bread & Butter Pickles.
Friday, September 9, 2011 at 1:04PM 
I'm not going to pretend this didn't start out as something else. I really had my heart set on making Tomato Jam. I had a few recipes to work from, and what I had in mind was a slightly sweet, ginger-y, chunky jam that would be just as delicious on a slice of buttered toast at sunrise as it would be on a juicy grilled burger at sunset.
Homemade Ketchup, Ketchup, Pug, ShuMai, Tomato Jam, ginger ketchup, tangy ketchup Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 12:10PM
Updated on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 8:29AM by
Brook Hurst Stephens
As promised, here are my ideas for putting up some of the Sugar Snap Peas I scored at the "Farm at Waters Edge" U-Pick Farm this weekend. These are technically refrigerator pickles, because they are stored in the refrigerator, not in the pantry. (They aren't processed & sealed, so they won't be completely shelf-stable.)
This recipe can be put together in a matter of minutes, but you can keep on enjoying these Pickled Sugar Snap Peas for weeks.
Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 8:58PM The first day of Labor Day Weekend we were traveling on the main highway through rural Belfair, Washington when we noticed a small hand-written sign that said "U-Pick Produce >". Without hesitation the preserver who lives inside me yelled to my husband: "TURN HERE!"
A few minutes later we were at the "Farm At Waters Edge" and I was the proud owner of not only this healthy head of cabbage, but a variety of other organic vegetables too.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 1:21PM
I started with ripe red raspberries.
Can you believe how big they were?
It's no optical elusion. I don't have tiny hands. (Quite the contrary.)
There's no special camera lens involved either.
They're just BIG burly berries.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 3:19PM I returned late last night from a week in New Orleans, and part of that time was spent attending IFBC. I learned so much while I was there, and I'm even more inspired to share the art of preserving with my readers.
I've already begun creating my own videos, but until I get them up & running, you should spend a few minutes watching this Etsy video about Classie Parker; it's making its way around the Internet, and for good reason.
Classie will inspire you to learn to preserve.
I promise.
