Flash drives help to save this stuff, instead of saving to floppy disks. Sorry you lost the recipes, but for me, I usually do things more by taste so if the flavor isn't there, I can't blame a recipe. Sometimes people don't seem to taste what they are making and the end result is quite a surprise if it isn't going to taste good. Maybe you put your recipes in a storage box where your canning supplies are, or maybe its in a box with some canning jars.. After I use any recipes, I usually put the books back in my bookcase for the next time. Lots of things I make are from memory anyway, and so I don't have to refer to recipes much anymore. The old simple way of a pinch of this a dash of that, and just dump in the vinegar and salt to taste and you have a pickle. Not sure where the B&B term came from, but it may be that it was because of the yellow color and sweet flavor. Now that I make them with Splenda, I find that I can enjoy more without all that sugar. Splenda, does NOT measure the same cup for cup as sugar, so never use 5 pounds of Splenda in place of 5 pounds of sugar. I usually get the same sweeteness with ONLY a cup or two of Splenda to the 5 pounds of sugar needed.

Good idea safety-wise or quality-wise? For safety, the issue when making substitutions isn't really one of texture but of pH of the various foods and the density of the foods. If I recall correctly they both fall in about the same pH range of 5.5-6.0 but I can't access my food pH chart right now to be sure as it is off-line. Since it is a BBB recipe it should be safe even with the substitutions but I do think it would be best to avoid such substitutions in the future. For quality concerns then IMO eggplant tends to be softer, less dense, have more water content, than zucchini. So I wouldn't choose to add it. I'd just make up what I had enough of the zucchini to make. If the eggplant slices go mushy and discolor you can always pitch them after the jar is opened. Dave

Sure you can Astrid. ;) I'll even stick my neck out and say that most don't use pickling cukes to make their pickles with - especially sliced varieties. Regular cucumbers make great bread and butter, dill slices or slabs or spears, sweet slices or chunks, relishes, etc. The slices may be a little bigger than those from pickling varieties but just as good. We like dill slabs for hamburgers so I cut the cuke on the diagonal (degree is your choice) into about 3/8 inch slices and stack them in quart jars with a head of dill, pour on the boiling dill mix (3 c sugar, 2 T canning salt, 6 c vinegar, 2 T pickling spice) and process 10 min. in BWB. Just one idea. ;) Dave PS: I soak the cuke slabs in heavily iced water for 2 hours before putting them in jars. Keeps them crisper.

Yippee! Spotted my first half ripe cherry tomato on one of my 38 plants today. Hopefully, I too, will be in the same boat as you all... By the way, a friend told me a great trick for getting rid of fruit flies...quickly...Put a quarter inch of red cider vinegar in the bottom of a quart sized canning jar (hopefully you have one or two left after all your canning). Anyway, you then get a piece of 81/2 x 11 paper (preferably scrap so you're not wasting a clean piece on the @#$%ing things. Twist the paper into a cone shape where there's a pretty small hole at the point end (small enough for the flies to go only one way...in) and tape it into that cone shape. Stick the cone small end down into the quart jar until the paper fits snug inside the jar. The flies are attracted to the vinegar, go down the funnel and are too stupid to figure out how to get back out. Works REALLY well! It's also really cool watching the stupid things trying to get out. I rid my kitchen of ALL the fruit flies in two days that came home with the farmer's market peaches. I have also placed it right next to my compost on the kitchen counter and I no longer have ANY fruit flies around my compost bin when I open it up to put food scraps in.