Well, today, I have to get into some serious organization concerning my green tomatoes. Papa picked all the green ones because it got close to freezing. They are in sacks. Some have turned red, but most of the green ones will rot before they turn red.
So today, I am going to get out my big pan and slice up the green tomatoes really thin and pickle them. I will add onion slices and some hot peppers and green peppers. I will just get all this sliced up and in my big pan on the stove. Then I will make a pickling syrup, just a few cups of vinegar and the same of sugar. Then I will put in spices, such as mustard seed, turmeric, celery seeds ... probably some garlic and, of course, black pepper and salt. I will put in some fresh herbs from my garden, too ... maybe basil and marjoram. If I had cabbage or broccoli left in the garden, I would put all of this in the pan, too.
All I do is put all the vegetables in, and then pour the vinegar mixture over the top, and then bring it to a boil. Then just shut it off and let the vegetables sit a few days on the stove, with a lid on it. (I dont use my cast iron pan for this, of course, as the vinegar would eat out the pan.) Then you could just can this relish, or just put it in the refrigerator in a big jar and have it this winter.
The old time mothers used to have a relish dish that they put on the table with relish to eat with the family meals. This relish I make ... well, really pickles ... would be good with grilled cheese sandwiches and home made winter soups.
Also, I have to get out there and dig up my horseradish in my garden. All you do with that is dig it up and scrape the roots until they are clean. Like washing and scraping a carrot? Then I put the roots in my blender and blend them up with white vinegar and salt. Then I put the mixture in a jar for the refrigerator. One jar will be enough for a year for us, so I wont can it. A nice sandwich spread is horseradish mixed with mayonnaise on a ham sandwich. Or you can add a bit of the horseradish to potato salad or coleslaw.
This year I had a lot of the little round red peppers. They were hot but not as hot as the skinny red ones. Anyway, I made hot pepper vinegar. Just take a pretty jar and fill it up with the hot peppers, and then pour boiling white vinegar over the peppers to cover them. I make this to use the vinegar, not to eat the peppers, as they are too hot. But I like the vinegar on salads. The vinegar will be ready to use in about a month.
Any of the herb vinegars are made the same way. I collect pretty bottles at garage sales to use for making herb vinegars. Some of the herbs would be too delicate to pour boiling vinegar over the top of. So for some of the herbs, I would just pour the room temperature vinegar over and set the bottles in a sunny window. Then the sun can steep them and warm them up and bring out their flavor. But they won't be ready to use for at least a month or two. You are supposed to strain the herbs out, too, but I never do. I mean, after they have steeped for a few months.
You can use some of these herb vinegars mixed with water for a hair rinse. Like a fourth of a cup of herb vinegar to a quart of warm water. Put it on your hair after the soap is out. It's good for dandruff and also nice to strip your hair of all the old conditioners and shampoos that have remained in your hair.
