Friday, July 06, 2007

Pickled Ladybugs


My husband's Grandma K, who has already earned a post all her own, is right in the middle of the summer harvest. I'm not talking about the wheat. That's another post entirely. No, Grandma K has fruit trees, and a garden, and we all spend the summer trying to eat as much fresh produce as possible because, well, why not? We have been stuffing ourselves with apricots, peaches, cucumbers, jellies and, of course, homemade pickles.

Grandma makes refrigerator pickles, which means they don't sit in the big tub of brine first like normal pickles, but gain their pickly goodness while jarred on the cabinet. I'm not sure what all she uses, although I know she gave me the recipe once, but on top of the jar is a big flower from her dill plants, and a big grapevine leaf. The leaf is to keep them from getting brown, or soggy, or something else that is unappealing in pickles. The exact reason escapes me.

Anyway, my point is, that you know Grandma's stuff comes straight from her garden, because when I pulled the grape-leaf out of our most recent pickle jar (I didn't bother pulling it out at first, we just dug around it) there was a perfectly preserved little ladybug clinging to the grape leaf. Now I call that fresh and all-natural. I tell you what, you can't get tiny pickled ladybugs just anywhere, folks. That's some real down-home-Oklahoma-farm-goodness right there. Oh yeah, and we've almost finished the jar of pickles.

I'm going to pull the leaf out first next time, though. Call me citified. I just want to know, that's all.

6 comments:

Johanna said...

yummy! I love pickles. I've never made them myself. I'll have to give it a try. :)

Qtpies7 said...

MMmmmm, pickled lady bugs!
My mom's friend pickled watermelon rinds. I think thats pretty weird, but they loved it.

aftergrace said...

It's funny that you brought up pickles, I was just talking with Ali and Ren about your Great Grandma Berry's amazing pickles. Your mom, aunts and I used to eat them by the dozen. No lady bugs that I know of.

Anonymous said...

LOL. Pickled ladybugs huh?

Mom not Mum (Sandy) said...

LOL yummy! My mom used to make pickles they were the best!!

JAM said...

My paternal grandmother made pickles, and as much as I like pickles, I never could get the hang of hers.

I'm with ya on pulling the leaf out first next time. I've problably inadvertently eaten bugs before, but I will avoid doing so if possible.