This recipe won first place in Mrs. Wages® Pickling Contest at the 2014 Indiana State Fair. Chuck says the key is to “chunk” up the vegetables. “It’s marvelous and you can eat it the next day!”
“I’ve won first place for my pickles in the past. The secret to blue ribbon canning is using ingredients right out of the garden and processing it quickly to preserve that taste.”
I came up with the idea to do radish pickles because we had a bumper crop of radishes this year in our garden, and you can only eat so many raw radishes you know? I like dill with radishes, and I’ve used the Mrs. Wages® Quick Process Dill Pickle Mix for a number of years to make dilled carrot pickles, so I thought I’d give radishes a try. I found the recipe needed a little sugar to keep the vinegar-radishy-ness from being too harsh.
I like my pickles a bit spicy, so I have added the red pepper flakes. The judge said she could definitely taste them. I’ve been using Mrs. Wages® for the past five or six years, and I love the pickle and salsa mixes. I’m a beginner at pickling, but enjoy it. I get my cucumbers from local farmer’s markets.
Rod Zeitler’s Blue Ribbon Kosher Dill Pickles
I’ve been canning 25-30 years. I have a passion for cooking. I grow all my own vegetables including my cucumbers. I’ve used Mrs. Wages® before. I like the pickles, they are awesome. Everyone’s been wanting my pickles, so the word must be out! This is my first time I’ve entered the State Fair and won third place in two different competitions.
State Fair Kosher Dill Pickles
The secret to producing exquisite corn is timing. Since corn turns to starch rather quickly, the time from garden to kitchen should be done within hours. Plan to pick your corn and take it to the kitchen to process right away. I usually get my corn from the farmer’s market, however the winning corn came from a roadside stand near Springfield, IL.
I only use Mrs. Wages® mixes to make my salsa. I grow my own tomatoes and I used a combination of Beefsteak and Black Krim, which is an heirloom tomato. They are delicious. My family loves the taste of it. This was my first time at entering the State Fair canning division. I was absolutely shocked that I won a blue ribbon. We use the salsa for all our burritos, quesadillas, as well as with tortilla chips.
I normally can beets every summer. I get the beets at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market. I use them as a condiment with meals. I usually can pickles in competition, so I’d thought I’d try beets this time at the Iowa State Fair this year and won second place.
Shop some of our other brands:
FIND MRS. WAGES® BRAND
PRODUCTS NEAR YOU!
And follow us on your
favorite social media apps:
