August 4, 1941 (Monday)

SWEET CORN AND HOME GROWN CUCUMBERS

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Quite a lot cooler

but no rain as yet.

Washed - a [big?] one.

Didn't do any ironing.

Too tired.

Took a nap this P.M.

Orlo and Hank are

hoeing corn.

Hank went with ball

team to Lowell to play

Woodland. Hot Points won

the game.

Henry went to G.R. on Right

of Way.

Sweet corn and home

grown cucumbers for

dinner.

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Other than homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers fresh from the garden are one of my very favorite foods!

My three favorite ways to eat them (in no particular order) are:

• Sliced with or without the skin - plain (no salt needed)

• Canned as bread and butter pickles

• In a creamy cucumber salad

When I was a kid my mom would grow garden cucumbers and make jars and jars of homemade bread and butter pickles. Canning pickles was an all day event. She also made dill pickles. The dill pickles were delicious but the bread and butter pickles were my favorite. My mom used a recipe that was handed down to her by her grandma (Josie) Jones.

Josie Jones

Josephine (White) Jones was born in Fulton, New York on June 8, 1876. Josie married Albany Lloyd Jones on November 21,1895. Together they had six children, Harold, Beatrice, Maxine (my grandmother), John, and twins who did not survive.

My grandmother, like her mother Josephine (Josie) , was born on June 8th.

My grandmother Maxine had four children of her own; Sally (my mom), Jane, Mary Ann, and Jill.

Like her mother Maxine and her grandmother Josie, my Aunt Jill was also born on June 8. My Aunt Jill's first born daughter decided enough was enough. She made her way into the world on June 1.

Josie Jones died on February 14, 1958. She was living with her daughter (my grandmother) at the time.

My mom, the oldest of her four sisters, was just 19 years old when her grandmother passed away.

I never knew my great grandmother Jones but I was well-acquainted with her bread and butter pickles. My mom kept a neatly written recipe for those pickles on a card in a box along with other family recipes.

I asked mom if she could send me a picture of the recipe card so I could share it in this blog. It didn't take her long to find it in her treasure trove of recipes.

Mom wants it noted that the picture is not blurry. It is the ink on the card that has blurred over the years.

Two summertime staples that regularly appeared on my childhood dinner table also contained garden-grown cucumbers. Both recipes were similar with vinegar and sugar as the base. But my favorite of the two also contained sour cream. Either can be made with or without onions. I prefer them with.

I still make both of these cucumber salads today. My recipe for my favorite version follows:

• Pour a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar into a bowl

• Add as much sugar as you see fit, until it dissolves

• Dump in some sour cream until you get the consistency you like

• Add sliced cucumbers and sliced onion (I prefer Vidalia onions)

• Mix

• Chill before serving

• Enjoy

I don't think my recipe will be shared with future generations given my inability to provide accurate measurements but you get the basic concept. If not, I am sure a simple Google search will produce hundreds of similar results.