Gypsy Boy wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:...Or bring them to the picnic in 5 weeks for everyone to taste and it will be out of your hair pronto.

With fond memories of the Pickle Princess's contribution from last year's picnic so firmly ensconced (entrenched?) in my mind [see above], I would embarrassed--nay, mortified and humiliated--to bring anything less than a superb, virtuoso effort. If they ain't the best damn pickles I've tasted, they ain't comin' to the picnic!

You're too sweet. I'm sure folks would be thrilled to try your pickles.

And, yes, I only snip the ends off of the fermented pickles. Not quick, fridge pickles.

Ronna

Ronna,

I snip ends off of all cucumber-type pickles whether it is fermented, quick or those I intend to preserve.

Regards,

I wonder if we could get Cathy to give those of us new to this endeavor a class? We have noticed in our spice shop, that more people than ever are interested in pickling and fermenting. They also interested in, but more put off by, the perceived difficulty of canning. Some of us only remember our grandmothers in a steamy hot kitchen on an August day, enlisting us to help when we wanted to be anywhere but in a hot kitchen. Now I sure wish I had been paying more attention. Maybe a Chicago Foodways Roundtable idea, if Kendall would let us? My customers alone could probably fill the class! We could also try some different spice mixture combinations. Just a thought.

Cathy2 wrote:Ronna,

I snip ends off of all cucumber-type pickles whether it is fermented, quick or those I intend to preserve.

Regards,

Actually, I hadn't considered this because I've only quick pickled sliced pickles and I trash the ends just because they aren't particularly pretty or tasty.

In any case, listen to Cathy! I'm still a total novice when it comes to quick pickled and fermenting, and have never canned a thing (although I'm hoping to change that soon!).

Ronna

I love the pickle slices that they serve at The Billy Goat for putting on their cheeseborgers. We pile so many on that it's more like a pickle sandwich. I gotta think that this would be an extremely simple recipe. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make them?

I don't know how to make them, but I've had them. They are thick dill "chips." Not house made. Standard commercial type - similar to a Claussen Dill pickle. I've had no luck making a crunchy-style dill pickle myself. Refrigerator pickles are easy and would give you a similar end-product. You'd need a mandoline to get the ridges though.

I made the Tribune recipe (with garlic,) and it didn't get good marks from the family. Too vinegary sour and too soggy. I do have a mandolin and can make big zigzag cut slices, and am going to try it again without cooking the pickles at all. should they have dill in them? Or sugar? I know there's not that much to them, just a mild pickling that makes them great on a burger.

Yes I know exactly what you mean. I actually like soggy dills, but that's not what you're looking for. Try any recipe for "refrigerator dill pickles" that you find on the web. That will give you something closer, but not exactly what you are looking for. If you do figure out how to do it, let me know.

in the case of fermented pickles - i.e., the salt and water but no vinegar kind - is there any way to tell if they've gone bad?

sarcon wrote:in the case of fermented pickles - i.e., the salt and water but no vinegar kind - is there any way to tell if they've gone bad?

Does anything appear to be wrong with yours?

If they're really stinky (not pickle stinky, but spoiled stinky) or have turned to mush, then I'd recommend throwing them away.

If they aren't mushy and the smell isn't foul, I'd taste one to see how things are going. I have a small crock of tomatoes that are taking much longer than cucumbers to ferment, so I'm having to skim mold off the top every few days. I tasted one to check on progress a week ago, and it tasted like it was well on its way to becoming a fine pickled tomato - - I'll taste another one soon.

Ronna

Just started my annual batch of fermented pickles: lots of garlic, spices, a little dill.


'Three-quarters' sour pickles

I still have some from last year in the fridge and they taste great. I think I need to eat them a little faster!

Darren,

Have you got a recipe? Sounds like a great pickle!

Geo

The key ingredient is that brine, which was 3 tablespoons of pickling salt per quart of water. The whole jar used about 2 quarts of water (and I sub'ed out about a half cup of water for cider vinegar). It may be hard to tell from the picture, but there are about 15-20 cucumbers packed in there. It's a large jar.

The rest of the ingredients are purely optional.

Here's what I did:

Wash the cucumbers and then cut off a sliver from the blossom ends of each.

Next figure out how much water you need: Fill up the empty jar with the cucumbers and then fill it with water. Then empty out the water and measure how much there is.

Make the brine: As I said, I used 3 tablespoons of pickling salt per quart of water. That's about a 5 to 5.5% solution (hence '3/4 sour' - more sour than half-sours, but not in the 7% range that some people prefer).

Then add other stuff to the jar. I used stuff I already had on hand:
A torn up dried chili pepper
bay leaves
peeled garlic cloves
A small handful of "wild" dill growing in my garden*
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon each of cloves, star anise, brown and hot mustard seed (I probably used a full teaspoon of mustard seed), juniper, allspice, dill seed, and mace.

*I planted dill two years ago. It self-seeded and a bunch came back last year. A very small amount of that came back this year.

So I used a fairly standard mix of spices that go into "pickling spice". In the past I used fewer ingredients. This year I just decided to do a big mixture, for no good reason than I had all of this in the house. One nice ingredient that I've used in the past is a smokey tea.

After adding the spices, add the brine to the jar. At this point, the standard thing is to cover it in some way that keeps the cucumbers submerged. As you can probably tell from the picture, I filled the jar just about to the top. So I just put some plastic wrap on top and pressed it down to the top of the brine. It isn't airtight, but cucumbers won't be popping out. I'll let this sit for a couple of weeks in a dark closet. When it's fully fermented, I'll strain the brine, boil it, cool it, and then add it back to the jar. The whole thing gets stored in the fridge.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I don't quite know what was objectionable to in the pickles you made.

I make bread and butter as well as fermented pickles. The fermented pickles are ready to eat after brining for roughly a month. If you want a new pickle, you can simply eat it before fully fermented.

Bread and butter made with white or cider vinegar need time to soften. I have found them too harsh when freshly made. Wait six to eight weeks for them to mellow and they are quite acceptable.

Cook's Illustrated did make quick pickles with rice vinegar. They did this because they didn't want to wait the time needed for this mellowing. The rice vinegar is suitable for refrigerator pickles, because it is a lower acid product than white and cider vinegar.

If you are canning pickles, rice vinegar is too low in acid. You do want cider and white vinegars in the 5% acidity range. If you substitute vinegars, they still need to be at least 5% acid. More on canning pickles can be found here: National Center for Home Food Preservation.

If you are keeping pickles for the long term: use canning salt only. That is not Kosher or table salt, but canning salt. Why? Canning salt has no fillers, iodine or flowing agents. Kosher salt has flowing agents. Anything but pure salt will cause your product to darken.

Regards,

Thank you for that link, Cathy2! After stumbling across a supply of a favorite Southern delicacy, hot pepper jelly, at Trader Joe's, and finding it OK but not what I remembered from my youth, I started looking for recipes, because I seemed to recall that this was an easy one for beginning home-canners (and you can definitely put me in that category!).

Anyway, only one recipe I found said anything about how long you had to wait before you could serve up the jelly with cream cheese and Ritz crackers (Lee Bros. Bible of Southern Cooking, I think; my cookbooks are packed away for a few days because of a home-improvement project, so I can't confirm right now.) That recipe said you had to let the jelly set for two weeks. The website you linked to said it takes 12-24 hours for pectin-added fruit jellies to set. Do you know about pepper jelly? I want to make sure it is at peak deliciousness before gifting or serving!

Thanks!
Sharon