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Message
Pickling for beginners
Posted on 8/14/17 at 10:15 am
Posted on 8/14/17 at 10:15 am
Saw the thread about deli pickles, and it got me thinking that I should give pickling a try. I am a huge fan of pickles and have always wanted to make my own. My favorite flavor is Clausen Dill, of course. Can someone break down pickling for me and possibly offer up a couple recipes for me to play with? TIA
Posted on 8/14/17 at 11:41 am to MaHittaMaHitta
Before trying to can your homemade pickles make fridge batches to practice and find out what you like. Liquid is usually a mix of vinegar and water with your choice of spices, herbs, and sugar. Bring pickling liquid to a boil on the stove and pour over your veggies, let cool on the counter and stick in the refrigerator. They will be good after a few days but really hit their stride after a week or two.
some of my favorites are green beans, okra, cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, and asparagus.
some of my favorites are green beans, okra, cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, and asparagus.
Posted on 8/14/17 at 2:40 pm to MaHittaMaHitta
I have the Ball Big Book of Canning, and it has a whole picklong section in it. I haven't pickled before myself, but I would love to try as well
Posted on 8/14/17 at 2:48 pm to MaHittaMaHitta
Refrigerator pickles are super easy, and worth trying, especially if you like Clausen dill. Slice or spear the cucumbers, add pickling spices (I like the Red Stick Spice versions) to a jar, then pack the jar with the cucumbers and add a 50/50 mix of boiled water and vinegar with some sea salt dissolved in it. Let the whole thing cool and pop in the fridge. You'll be tempted to try it out the next day, but wait a week plus.
Posted on 8/14/17 at 5:15 pm to BMoney
I made my first batch about a month ago. Well, started it. I have some old family recipes that have been preserved in small town church cookbooks. I made my great aunt's 14 day sweet pickles. It looks tedious, but really you do nothing for 7 days, and days 8-14 just involve a little boiling and dumping back into a large container. I used my crock pot insert. Last year I did pickled okra, and will be doing that again since those seem to grow really well in my garden. The cucumbers surprised me this year. I had maybe a half dozen last year, but I've already picked about 5-6 dozen this year, and had to do something with them.
Posted on 8/15/17 at 11:20 am to TU Rob
We make bread and butter pickles and have been for years we use a simple canning method that works great. here is the link to a post about it including recipe and pictures.
pickle recipe
pickle recipe
Posted on 8/15/17 at 11:22 am to MaHittaMaHitta
Pickling is stupid easy, even true pickling (using bacteria for fermentation to get the acidity instead of a vinegar bath). Basically, you get a bunch of pickling cucumbers and scrub them well and trim off the ends. You get a pickling spice blend of your choosing and put it in a glazed crock. You stuff the cucumbers tightly down into the crock on top of the spices.
Get some pickling salt and mix it into water in the ratio that the instructions say to use. Pour the brine to thoroughly cover the cucumbers. Put the remaining brine in a ziplock and stuff it down into the crock to keep the cucumbers submerged. Flat stones can also be used for this, but it's important to make sure the cucumbers stay submerged. You can cover with cheesecloth if you wish to keep bugs and debris out, but you need to make sure it can breathe so the bacteria can colonize the brine. Remember: this food is alive.
Then you put it in a place that's about 70 degrees and wait. Every day, skim off the scum, yeast, mold, etc. that will grow on top. When the bubbles stop, the fermentation is done and you can stash in the fridge for a couple of months.
Basically, what you're trying to do is to make sure the lactic acid bacteria responsible for fermentation survive and can crowd out the bacteria responsible for spoilage. You encourage this by keeping it around 70 degrees, which is ideal for the lactic acid bacteria, but not ideal for spoilage bacteria. Too much higher than this and the spoilage bacteria will begin to have an easier time growing and the lactic acid bacteria start struggling.
In addition, the submersion in the brine is important as well. The bacteria you want are anaerobic, so lots of oxygen will kill them. The bacteria you don't want are aerobic, so they'll thrive in high oxygen. If you let the cucumbers float and get exposed to air, they'll rot. This is why you pack them tightly into the jar and put something heavy on them to make sure they'll stay under the brine.
Finally, you give the lactic acid bacteria a further leg up with the brine itself. The salty conditions inhibit the growth of the spoilage bacteria while leaving the lactic acid bacteria alive to do their thing and crowd out the spoilage bacteria. Too little salt and the spoilage bacteria win and your cucumbers rot. Too much salt and all the bacteria get killed off and your cucumbers won't pickle. Just right, and you get delicious pickles. So, it's important to make sure that you follow the pickling salt directions to get the mix right.
Remember that pickling is an ancient preservation method. It isn't complicated. Most people just have never done it. It's literally just putting the cucumbers in spiced salt water and letting it sit for a week in a cool place.
Get some pickling salt and mix it into water in the ratio that the instructions say to use. Pour the brine to thoroughly cover the cucumbers. Put the remaining brine in a ziplock and stuff it down into the crock to keep the cucumbers submerged. Flat stones can also be used for this, but it's important to make sure the cucumbers stay submerged. You can cover with cheesecloth if you wish to keep bugs and debris out, but you need to make sure it can breathe so the bacteria can colonize the brine. Remember: this food is alive.
Then you put it in a place that's about 70 degrees and wait. Every day, skim off the scum, yeast, mold, etc. that will grow on top. When the bubbles stop, the fermentation is done and you can stash in the fridge for a couple of months.
Basically, what you're trying to do is to make sure the lactic acid bacteria responsible for fermentation survive and can crowd out the bacteria responsible for spoilage. You encourage this by keeping it around 70 degrees, which is ideal for the lactic acid bacteria, but not ideal for spoilage bacteria. Too much higher than this and the spoilage bacteria will begin to have an easier time growing and the lactic acid bacteria start struggling.
In addition, the submersion in the brine is important as well. The bacteria you want are anaerobic, so lots of oxygen will kill them. The bacteria you don't want are aerobic, so they'll thrive in high oxygen. If you let the cucumbers float and get exposed to air, they'll rot. This is why you pack them tightly into the jar and put something heavy on them to make sure they'll stay under the brine.
Finally, you give the lactic acid bacteria a further leg up with the brine itself. The salty conditions inhibit the growth of the spoilage bacteria while leaving the lactic acid bacteria alive to do their thing and crowd out the spoilage bacteria. Too little salt and the spoilage bacteria win and your cucumbers rot. Too much salt and all the bacteria get killed off and your cucumbers won't pickle. Just right, and you get delicious pickles. So, it's important to make sure that you follow the pickling salt directions to get the mix right.
Remember that pickling is an ancient preservation method. It isn't complicated. Most people just have never done it. It's literally just putting the cucumbers in spiced salt water and letting it sit for a week in a cool place.
This post was edited on 8/15/17 at 11:44 am
Posted on 8/15/17 at 11:46 am to MaHittaMaHitta
Give it a shot, very easy, just follow directions to a tee. Imma 60yr old guy and here's a sample of some of the stuff I've canned this year from a 20'x40' garden...
pickled banana peppers, quartered tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, pickled jalapeno/habanero/tabasco/banana peppers with onion, carrots and garlic. Both hot & dill pickle spears & rounds along with bread & butter squash and dilly beans(squash n beans already eaten )...
pickled banana peppers, quartered tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, pickled jalapeno/habanero/tabasco/banana peppers with onion, carrots and garlic. Both hot & dill pickle spears & rounds along with bread & butter squash and dilly beans(squash n beans already eaten )...
Posted on 8/15/17 at 11:55 am to dallasga6
Are those onions on the bottom?
Posted on 8/15/17 at 12:05 pm to dallasga6
Pickled sweet banana pepper slices with garlic...
This post was edited on 8/15/17 at 12:15 pm
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