I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I asked a similar question here at GW my first year gardening and (I think it was Linda Lou, but can't remember for certain now) that suggested that I keep my cucumbers in an ice-water bath in the fridge for up to a week. (My personal record is 2 week hee hee). Since cucumbers are about 80% water no matter how you store them they will shrivel up if you don't store them IN water. BEGIN AT THE SINK. I start by placing my cake cooling rack across the sink as a "wire-shelf" because not only will you have spillage, in this case you actually WANT spillage. Using a large Tupperware (or similar) container with a tight fitting (sealable) lid, place your cucumbers in the bowl and cover with ice. Fill just to overflowing with water. When you put the lid on, instead of "burping" air you will want to "burp" a little water out to ensure there is no air at all and store in the coldest part of your refrigerator. Add ice daily (or as needed, I have had ice last a couple of days) until your ready to pickle. This is now standard storage practice for pickling cukes in my house every year until I have enough ready to can. :) Best Wishes Amino-X

The first time I made pickle relish I did it just to use up a couple of cukes that had gotten bigger than I like (once in a while, the vine conspires to hide one or two until they can get too big), but it was so good, much better than the store bought, that I've been making my own ever since. The problem is that I like the veggies to be nicely even in size, tiny cubes and all that chopping is so tedious. So once, I tried a batch in the food processor, as suggested in a recipe. Won't do that again. The texture was completely different. My recipe is a little different from the Ball Book's, though it seems I might have gotten the original recipe from it, as the proportions are the same. But I add 2 cups of chopped celery to the other veggies, 1/4 t tumeric and I use half and half yellow and brown mustard seeds. Here is an excellent red onion relish. The recipe comes from "Small Batch Preserving", but I generally triple it because I can't be bothered to slowly caramelize the onions and go through the whole canning process for only 2 cups of finished product. Caramelized Red Onion Relish 2 large red onions-peeled and very thinly sliced 1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar 1 c dry red wine 3 T balsamic vinegar 1/8 t salt 1/8 t freshly ground black pepper Combine onions and brown sugar in a heavy, nonstick pan. Cook, uncovered over med-high heat about 25 minutes or until onions turn golden and start to caramelize. Stir frequently. Stir in wine and vinegar. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir frequently. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Pack in clean hot jars, leaving 1/2" head space. Process half pints in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Agree with Linda Lou. Ball also makes a Kosher mix if Kosher is what you want. So does Mrs. Wages. But if you want to make Kosher Dills then why use one of the mixes anyway? Just use one of the Kosher Dill recipes at NCHFP or in BBB. Dave

They are called 'kosher' because the flavor is linked in most folks minds to the traditional Kosher Dill (supervised by a Rabbi) from the pickle companies of New York. The name just sticks. And the garlic is the primary difference although they may also include some additional pickling spices and greater amounts of dill. There are many dill pickle recipes that do not include garlic including those in the BBB, Joy of Pickling, and on NCHFP. But when garlic is added along with the dill then they become 'kosher' dills. Dave