Where I'm From- Part One

This is my dad's pickle shelf. It's located in the fruit cellar under the cement porch stairs in my parent's home. You won't find any fancy jars or unique ingredients here- just plain old backyard vegetable garden preserves and the odd jam. Dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, mustard pickles, beet pickles, sweet tomato chili sauce- these are the tastes of my childhood, and the techniques I learned while making them are the same ones I use today. When I find myself getting too caught up in trying to make something exotic, or longing over designer jars, I think of this shelf with its plain jars and handwritten labels. I think of the long hot summers of work that go into making these, and how good they taste when we eat them in the dead of winter, and I remember why I do this. Family recipes and traditions passed down from generation to generation; this is my inheritance and my legacy.