For Colette Hughes, her garden serves as a living memory of her aunt and her mother, both fervent gardeners. Now, it’s a testament to her family, spending hours gardening with her husband, John, and her children.
Colette and John have been gardening for as long as they have been married — over half a century. The couple spend their days looking after an array of fruits and vegetables in their makeshift garden that was originally an in-ground pool.
“You can’t get any fresher than this,” Colette said as she entered through the garden’s gate.
Colette grew up around a garden in Dickson City. Her mother, grandmother, and aunt all realized the necessity to live off the land. They learned how to innovate and make new dishes using the plants growing in their own backyard.
Their Polish heritage meant that pickles were a household staple. One recipe is synonymous with Colette’s aunt, or "Ciocia Sue" — 24-hour pickles.
In Northeast Pennsylvania, Polish roots run deep. Pulled by the prospect of working in regional coal mines and pushed by the strife in Europe in the early 1900s, many Polish immigrants settled in NEPA — and with them, brought plenty of pickle recipes.
“Economics had a lot to do with it,” Colette explained. “They’re easy to grow, and pickling things was something that they could do if things went wrong. If you canned your pickles, you could eat them any time.”
A canning recipe book now in Colette’s possession once belonged to her aunt. The cover of the book dangles loosely, barely attached to the spine. An inscription with the year 1939 hides just behind the cover.
“I wrote something about her that I keep in here,” she said.
The folded piece of paper Colette is referencing is an obituary, of sorts, to her aunt who passed away in 2014. For Colette, the book — and the recipes within it — is what is left of her.
As is the case with many of her family dishes, the recipe begins in the garden.
“There’s something so sacred about going to the garden and seeing the seed that was dead, and now it’s coming to life,” Colette said.
The afternoon sun beamed down on Colette and her husband in their garden at their Scott Twp. home. The two got to work, snipping fresh dill and grabbing garlic that hung on the garden wall. Soon, the two met in the middle. A large cucumber bush became their primary focus, and the couple quickly picked over a dozen cucumbers, varying in size and shape.
Now sheltered from the heat, Colette brought out a large pot. White vinegar, sugar, and salt were poured in and brought to a boil before being left to cool. As Colette folded the tops of the freshly-picked dill, its distinct smell flooded the small kitchen.
“Just smell that dill!” Colette exclaimed, adding it, along with the garlic and newly-sliced cucumbers into a jar. Three small jars were soon filled with the combination of ingredients. The brine had cooled.
Taking the jars over to her pot, Colette grabbed a ladle and began to pour the brine, occasionally spilling a few drops. With the jars filled, the next step was, as the recipe name suggests, wait 24 hours for the cucumbers to pickle.
Luckily, Colette and her Polish hospitality planned ahead. Reaching into her fridge, she pulled out a jar that she had made for the occasion.
“It’s going to be spicy, just so you know,” Colette said, using tongs to pull out slices of bright green “ogorki” — Polish for pickle.
She added green cherry peppers from her garden to the mix of ingredients, a change from what her aunt’s recipe calls for.
“I tweak my recipes — that’s what Polish people do,” Colette explained.
Colette’s pickles are sweet at first, but give a sharp kick thanks to the peppers and vinegar. It is a recipe that is so simple, but oozes with years of creativity and history.
There was another dish Colette wanted to make, just as simple and delicious as the pickles. It too, focused primarily on cucumbers.
“My mom made this one constantly,” Colette said. “It’s called cucumbers and sour cream because what else could she call it? It’s just a simple dish.”
Colette grabbed a bowl containing a half block of cream cheese from the fridge that had been softening. She put the bowl in the microwave for a few seconds to speed up the process.
As she began to gather the ingredients, John used a mandoline to slice more of the freshly-picked cucumbers. He took a few to the side.
“My husband likes a little food with his pepper,” Colette joked as the once-green cucumbers were now almost completely covered by the spice.
Colette placed the ingredients in front of her, this time, without a guide from a cookbook.
“This is a recipe that I never measure — it’s all by feel and taste,” she said.
She added the glob of cream cheese for texture, stirring it with sour cream. Then, Colette added sugar and some white vinegar.
“Some people get offended (by adding sugar). I say you know what? Everything in moderation,” she said, before adding “I don’t know how much sugar is going to go in there because it’s all on taste.”
Colette then pulled out her secret ingredient from her cabinet — chicken bullion.
“It gives it a dippy kind of flavor when you eat it,” she said.
She added pepper soon after the bullion, completing the recipe
Pouring a heap of sliced cucumbers into the bowl, Colette covered them in the mix. In just a few minutes, her second recipe was complete.
As Colette looked at her two dishes, she reflected on what they meant to her.
“They mean Polish, they mean family, they mean love,” she said.
Some of Colette’s favorite memories are in her garden, tending it with her husband, and later, her children and grandchildren.
Colette said she wants her grandchildren to remember her and John the way she remembers her mother and aunt — as hearty people who loved what they did.
“I don’t want them to have a memory of us, ‘oh, we were business owners, we made money’ — that doesn’t matter in life,” she said.
In the evenings, Colette and John sit out on their back porch, sipping wine and watching their plants grow.
“We just enjoy life,” Colette said, her husband nodding his head in agreement. “The simple part of life.”
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Colette Hughes' 24-Hour Pickles
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 24 hours
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 ⅓ cup white vinegar
1 ⅓ cup sugar
4 teaspoon salt
3 fresh cucumbers — sliced
1 clove garlic
Dill to liking
1 hot pepper (optional)
Procedure
1. Add vinegar, water, sugar, salt to a large pot and bring it to a boil, then leave it to cool.
2. Slice cucumbers and place them in a jar.
3. Add dill, garlic, and peppers to the jar.
4. Pour the cooled brine into the jar until it is filled.
5. Seal the jar and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Colette Hughes' Cucumbers and Sour Cream
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
approximately ½ block cream cheese
approximately ½ container sour cream
2-3 cucumbers
pepper to taste
sugar to taste
dash of white vinegar — to taste
chicken bullion to taste
Procedure
1. Add sour cream and cream cheese together in a bowl, mix.
2. Add sugar, vinegar, chicken bullion, and pepper to taste, mix.
3. Chop cucumbers into slices.
4. Add cucumbers into bowl, mix until covered.