Pickled Okra, Y'all!

See these lovely green pods? Two of my church friends gave these to me when they overheard my sob story about a groundhog eating the tops off all our okra while we were at the beach. Yay for gardening church friends! Okra is a southern staple....we were raised on fried okra, pickled okra, and okra in our gumbo (gumbo in WNC? Hey whatevs.) 

1. Get your stuff ready. (See list below with condensed recipe.) Ingredients in containers, all your pots and tools in place, veggies washed and drained, clean towels, rings, etc. 

My pot set-up.....large canner on largest stove-eye, on the opposite side of where I'm working (because I'll bump it and steam my elbows.) Large stock pot for the vinegar/salt/water mixture to boil in. Small pot for keeping lids warm (medium heat....do not boil, it will ruin the sealer.) We use only stainless steel or enamel. Even if you cook with Teflon, I'm pretty sure you can't use it for canning. My mom likes to keep her teapot full of almost-boiling water for adding to the canner to make sure your jars are covered with plenty of boiling water. 

 2. With rack in canner, fill each clean pint jar with water, place on rack, and fill the rest of the canner with water. Get that stuff to boiling. It doesn't take super long due to the thin enamel canner (that's why they are thin metal) but you still have to wait a while to get it going. This is heating your water and sterilizing your jars. Doesn't need to be a rolling boil, but close. 

 3. Make the vinegar mix. I double the recipe from the Ball Blue-Ribbon Book of Canning because the recipe only makes 4 pints. 2/3 cup of canning salt, 6 cups water, 6 cups white vinegar. Bring to a boil. Reduce slightly to keep it at an almost-boil (rolling boil will evaporate too much liquid while you pack your jars, and your okra will taste too salty, trust me, I did this the first time.) **Do not use regular table salt.... canning/pickling/preserving salt is made specifically to not leave a residue in the bottom of your jars of lovelies.

  4. If using fresh dill, cut into sprigs, use 1-2 per jar. Some recipes call for dry dill weed added into the vinegar mixture. This is just as easy, and pretty. If dry dill weed is all you have, the flavor is still the same. This is partially dried dill, so not technically fresh and ferny looking. 

 Isn't it pretty??

5. Take hot jars out of pot (it's helpful to pour the hot water out of each jar into a metal bowl or another pot, just in case you need it....the volume of the okra/vinegar mixture will take the place of this heated water.) 

6. In each jar, place 1-2 dill sprigs, 1-2 cloves of garlic, and 1-2 fresh or dried hot peppers.

7. Start packing the okra in the jars, in two groups.....pods with stem side down, as tight as you can get them in, and then the second group with stem side up (pointy part can wedge in between the upright pods.) Mush that pepper, dill, and garlic out of the way (remember if you break the pepper pod it will make your okra hotter, which is not necessarily a bad thing.) It's like a puzzle. A green, squishy puzzle. (Note that wide-mouth jars will need shorter okra pods....small-mouth jars have a little more height to them.) 

 8. After all 7-8 jars are packed, use the handy funnel thingy to pour the vinegar mixture into each jar (go slow, they fill fast.) Leave 1/4" headspace. I usually just fill them to the top, because as the air bubbles escape, it makes a little more room at the top. Use a thin, non-metallic spatula (I use this plastic knife that came with my pasta maker) to slide between the okra and the side of the jar. Press in a little to release air bubbles. Add more vinegar mixture if needed.

Please take a moment to love on my dish towels. These are from a set I got from Ikea about 3 years ago. 8 year old artist daughter decided one of them would make a nice paint pallet, but I still use it. I love these happy colors and designs! 

 9. Wipe the rim of each jar with a clean, dry cloth. Any moisture or food particles here will keep the lid from sealing well. Take lid out of hot water (you can get that cute little magnet jar thingy, but I just lift them out with a fork and then hold them with my fingers....they shouldn't be painfully hot or it's melting the sealer.) Center the lid and then put the clean ring on....tighten it like you would any regular jar (not Superman tight, but tight.)

 10. Gently place each jar into the rack (wide-mouth jars are harder to hold with these things so be careful.) If water does not already cover the jars by about 2 inches, add more of the boiling water you saved (or the water from Mom's teapot) over the jars. Place lid on, return heat to "high" and wait about 5 minutes for it to go back to a boil. When it is a rolling boil, slightly reduce your heat (I turn mine from HI to between 8 and 9) so it continues to boil but doesn't come out of the pot. Set timer for 15 minutes.

11. After 15 minutes, turn off heat, and if you feel like wrestling that blasted rack up into position where it can hang on the edges, go ahead and do that....let cans sit partially out of the water about 5 minutes (to begin cooling), then place on a clean DRY cloth. I don't do the balancing rack thing except with pressure cooking so the jars won't bust. With short-time canning, I have never had issues with just placing them straight from the pot onto the towel on the counter. Be sure your towel is dry....putting this hot puppy on a cool, wet surface will probably burst it. Hot mess that is. Let them rest a while, and listen for that happy little "doink" that shows you they are sealed. After a few hours, I go back with a clean wet cloth and wipe the lids and jars down (sometimes there is some salty residue) and feel each to see if the button is down showing it's sealed. 

Serving ideas:

• Side dish for breakfast, sandwiches, salads
• Condiment on hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches
• Place inside any wrap sandwich
• Garnish for a Bloody Mary 
• I've always wanted to try a home-made grilled pimiento cheese sandwich with pickled okra in it

Supplies:

• 7-8 jar canner with lid
• Canning rack
• Jar lifter
• Magnetic lid wand (optional)
• Stock pot for vinegar mixture
• Small pot to warm lids
• 7-8 clean pint-sized canning jars (Ball, Kerr, or Mason)
• 7-8 lids and rings to match jars
• Clean dish towels (at least 3)
• Jar filling funnel
• Ladle or glass measuring cup
• Plastic spatula
• Potholders if needed

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 pounds small, fresh, clean okra pods
• 2/3 cup canning salt
• 8 sprigs fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dry dill weed)
• 6 cups water
• 6 cups white vinegar
• 8 cloves garlic
• 8 fresh or dried red peppers or other hot peppers (long and skinny works best)