The hard part--which is also the fun part--is foraging the stonecrop flowers. Stonecrop grows in high elevations in the Rocky Mountains, so you are going to have to hike. The flowers used in the pictured pickles were foraged at the end of August of this year near Fairplay, Colorado. A search of "stonecrop" on this blog will yield various informational items and photographs to help you with your quest, although there is no substitute for having several good identfication books on hand.
Also please keep in mind that while the introduction to this entry is written in shameless SEO ad fashion, you must nonetheless take this quest seriously and follow some basic ground rules for foraging, one of which is to only harvest a small percentage of each plant or stand of plants in order to allow for its regeneration.
Without further ado, then, here is the recipe, as given to me by grandma and as subsequently posted in one of my more popular EHow articles (I've earned $2.75 on it so far, woot woot). There is one change, of course, and that is the addition of the stonecrop flowers.
Instructions:
- Forage the stonecrop flowers.
- Thinly slice the cucumbers (leaving the skins on) and the onion. Aim for 2 quarts of sliced cucumbers. Slicing can be done by hand or with a food processor to speed up the job. Add stonecrop flowers. Cover sliced cucumbers, onion, and flowers with water in a bowl and add salt. Then mix and let stand for two hours.
- Drain water and add sugar. Mix until veggies and flowers are fully coated with sugar. Add vinegar and mix again. Congratulations! You have sweet pickled pickles with lovely yellow flowers.
Note: I like to keep these pickles in a mason jar in the fridge; they are not canned but they keep for a few months at least.
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