I picked okra on Saturday morning in preparation to make pickled okra, but neglected to pick on Sunday. As I walked out the door this morning huge okra were waving at me from the plants and I knew waiting till this evening would be too long. I picked a pound or so and some were quite large but I *think* still usable because they are so fresh. I gave the box to my nextdoor neighbor - many of them are absolutely perfect and she has cooked okra all her life so will know if she can use the half-dozen or so incredible hulks in the box. Now I'll start saving up for next weekend and make another batch of pickled okra.

Gardeners know that every year one or two crops do so much better than everything else; this year it's peppers and okra with a pretty good batch of squash (now finished off by vine borers). You make the most of the things that do best. What I learned from making a batch of pickled okra a couple of years ago is that you have to wait quite a while with this recipe to get the best pickle. There's no opening this two or three weeks later. Maybe by xmas these will be at the right degree of pickled and absorbed the pepper and garlic to be perfect.