"The best place and best price for Bragg's is usually by the gallon in natural and health foode shoppes . It's still pricey, around $16 - but much better than buying it by the qt." David, the Heinz raw unfiltered unpasteuerized cider vinegar with the mother in it I bought at WalMart yesterday was $3.98 a qt. I think stretching the expensive stuff by blending it with standard vinegar is an excellent idea. I'm anxious to try the Heinz with some cold pack pickles, in cole slaw, and to make some salad dressing. "Heinz now has a new variety that is very much the same as Bragg...it is Heinz Unfiltered Raw Unpasteurized With The Mother. Just purchased some at Walmart for about $3." Here is a link that might be useful: Is the Heinz brand apple cider vinegar as good as Bragg ACV? This post was edited by sidhartha0209 on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 15:01

Breasley, I think you're right, these Bubbie's Pure Kosher Dills are something like a three-quarter sour. They are definitely beyond half sour, with an olive green color rather than bright green. But it's hard to tell whether they're fully soured because of the hot pepper flakes in the jar. I find the amount of spice pleasant, but I'd rather it be toned down to let more of the fermented flavor through. This reminds me of an old article, linked below, about the "pickle wars" on the lower east side of Manhattan. One guy trained the other and now they both have shops. The trainer said of the trainee, "Alan doesn't even know how to make a sour pickle! I never taught Alan that. Sure, he's made three-quarter sours, but he can't make a full sour." I always thought that was funny. Verdict: Bubbie's are good, but too spicy to hit the spot the way NY pickles do. One great place to get pickles without driving into Manhattan is Harold's NY Deli in Edison, NJ. If you eat in, the pickles are all you can eat, but if you get takeout you have to buy them. Melissa Here is a link that might be useful: sure, he's made three-quarter sours

This one is my handful of "To Die For" recipes. LOL Very, very good. Fig preserves  Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber (posted by JessicaÂcooking forum) INGREDIENTS 2 1/4 lbs (1 kg) fresh black figs (3 lbs) 3 3/4 cups (800 g) granulated white sugar (4 cups) Juice of 1 lemon (+ a little bottled) 2 vanilla beans (3 beans) TO DO 1. Rinse figs in cold water and wipe dry with a clean towel. Remove the stems and quarter the figs. If they're particularly large, cut them into eighths. Split the vanilla beans lengthwise 2. Combine the figs, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla beans in a non-reactive bowl. Cover, ideally with a piece of crumpled, damp parchment paper. Set aside to macerate for an hour. 3. Pour the contents of the bowl into your preserving pan and bring them to a simmer. Return them to the bowl and cover again. Put this into the refrigerator for at least eight hours, or overnight. 4. Prepare your jars for canning. 5. Again return the fruit mixture to the pan. Bring it to a full boil. Skim off the foam if you care about that sort of thing. Continue cooking until the mixture comes up to 221° F (105° C) -- about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the vanilla beans near the end of the process. Stir gently as it cooks. 6. Pour the jam into jars and boil water bath. Deanna

Paula, You're welcome. I collect recipes and, especially, recipes that allow me to prepare/use the yummy veggies and fruits that we grow here. There's not much use in growing stuff if I can't/don't use it all. Of course, in a year when there's a bumper crop of this or that (and this year it is peppers!), using or putting up all of it can be quite challenging. I'm not complaining, though. Since we have severe summer drought here at least 3 out of every 5 years and garden production plummets accordingly, I have to make the most of the good years. I'm sorry your pepper year is over, but at least it has been a bountiful one! I harvested peppers for a couple of hours yesterday, and I am hoping (tongue-in-cheek) my plants freeze soon. I am really and truly running out of new ideas, so I am starting to do repeats of recipes I've already canned. We have had several nights this week where the temperatures went down to 42 degrees. Because we're in a low-lying frost pocket, we normally get patchy frost and plant damage at 38 degrees here, so our plants have survived by the skin-of-the-their-teeth this week. On at least two mornings, I looked outside at the early morning very-heavy-dew and thought we might have frost, but we didn't. We've been trying to sleep with the windows open, but at some point, one of us wakes up cold and closes the windows. Beginning today, we have a week-long stretch with lows in the 50s and highs in the 60s-70s, so I guess maybe my plants will live another week at least. Most years I want for them to last as deeply into fall as possible, but I'm so worn out from canning, freezing and dehydrating everything, that at this point I am almost (almost, but not quite) ready for a killing freeze. Have fun canning. I made salsa early this a.m. and probably will make a couple of batches of Habanero Gold this evening, but am spending the afternoon with our 2-yr.-old granddaughter, so no peppers for us this afternoon...it is Play-dough instead. Dawn