Pickling lime is a powder and will mix with water SORT OF, but settles to the bottom even if its stirred for 10 minutes or more in an attempt to dissolve it. If its left sitting a few minutes the lime settling begins and if you stir it, the lime will float around a little for a short time. Adding cukes to the lime, requires they sit at least 12 hours in the refrigerator, with a few stirs to get the lime agitated. It dulls stainless steel. Getting it off the cukes is very hard. It will not just wash or rinse off, but needs a bit of scrubbing and several minutes of continual washing. Even for that, some can still stick to the cuke skins and then settle out inside the jar of pickles once vinegar and salt brine are added. The Calcium Cloride TOTALLY dissolves in water and has no sediment, and if used as a presoak, needs far less rinsing off, just a quick rinse. If used as the addituve to a pickling brine, it also dissolves and acts as a 'buffer' for the high acid vinegar, to help the cukes to remain firm for many months. Its used in commercially canned whole tomatoes to help keep them firm too. It has no noticable taste and if used properly, will not create any safety issues in any pickle making recipes. The pickling lime needs a couple of cups per gallon of water as the presoak. For the Pickle Crisp (Calcioum Chloride) only about 4-5 teaspoons are used for a gallon of water as a presoak. For adding direct to pickle jars, only about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon is used per pint, or 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons per quart. The original Ball Pickle Crisp is a smaller granule size, compared to the generic CC sold by Bulk Foods. Becuase of the larger granule size, you would use slightly more. Pickle Crisp calls for 1/2 teaspoon per pint and 1 teaspoon per quart of pickles. Hope that answers any possible questions about its use, diffrences, and effects on vinegar brined based pickled items.

Yeah, I'm still here. I can't get Photobucket to work with my Vista updates, so I haven't managed pictures. I'm cooking for my stepmother and still moving the last of her stuff to her apartment, as well as changing addresses for all of her creditors/banks/doctors/etc. Ashley is pregnant and not due until next month but her blood pressure is too high and she's off work and on bed rest because they don't want her to have the baby yet, so I've been trying to help out there while her husband is at work on the night shift. I have the normal fall farm chores and I bought the remainder of the farm and rented a big dumpster, which we filled with the garbage my sister left everywhere. She's my sister, but she's a hopeless slob. Ugh. Elery should be here in about 2 hours so we can go to the Food and Wine show in Grand Rapids tomorrow, that should be fun. Ellie Krieger is the guest chef, and I'll take pictures, but I've got to get Photobucket whipped into submission before I can post them. Hopefully before Madison Elizabeth is born.... So, I've been crazy busy, but I'm fine and I'm still around. Things will slow down eventually. Maybe. (grin) Thanks for thinking about me! Annie

Joanna, you may want to ask the butcher about those bones... Years ago my Mother would buy soup bones from a local butcher who bought whole animals from the local stock yards... On one visit to the butchers shop she noticed a sign for Free dog bones and asked for a few pounds of beef dog bones... The man behind the counter told her they were NOT for human consumption for various reasons, most weren't properly refrigerated, they were all dumped in one container ( beef, pork, lamb, veal... ) some had fallen on the floor or fished out of the trash... Granted most stores today wouldn't take the chance of selling contaminated bones but... Better safe than sorry, ask if they ARE fit for human consumption. Rita

Ilana, this is the recipe I've been using, I like the addition of honey. I don't do this by hand, I put the wet ingredients into the bread machine, add the dry ones and set it on "dough". I normally start with 3 cups of white and 3 of wheat, and adjust by adding more flour if the dough is too wet. HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD · 3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour · 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour · 2 pkg. active dry yeast · 2 tsp. salt · 1 cup milk · 1 cup water · 1/2 cup honey · 3 Tbsp. oil · 1 egg In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, the yeast, and salt and mix well. In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until a thermometer reads 120-130 degrees F (warm) Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine. Beat this batter for 3 minutes. Then, gradually stir in rest of whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose four to form a firm dough. Sprinkle work surface with flour and knead dough, adding more flour if necessary, for 5-8 minutes until smooth and satiny. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough in the bowl to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, until double in bulk. Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll or press each piece of dough to a 14x7" rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal and place dough, seam-side down, into greased 9x5" bread pans, making sure short ends of bread are snugly fitted against the sides of the pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until the dough fills the corners of the pans and is double in bulk, 30-40 minutes. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I like to brush the bread with butter when it's still hot from the oven for a softer crust. This has become my "go to" wheat bread recipe, even the grandkids like it. Annie