pickling

  

 A recent rainy day presented the perfect opportunity to finally do some pickling. I’m growing Boston Pickling cukes this year, just for this reason, and they have been producing pretty well. I’ve been stalling on this project for a while. Being my first official foray into canning of any sort, I admit I felt a tiny bit intimidated. The worst that could happen though, is I would lose a few pounds of cucumbers. So!

 

 I followed the garlic dill pickles recipe from Marisa McClellan’s site, Food In Jars. This is a quick pickle (she recommends letting them sit 2-4 days before eating), so you won’t have to wait for weeks to try them. The only modification I made was I added 1/2 tsp coriander seed to each jar. I also followed her guide for salt substitution, and used the sea salt I had on hand in place of pickling salt.

 These were pretty simple to put together, just as I was assured they would be. The hardest part was just waiting for the water to boil to sterilize my jars, and then again for the water bath.  I realized halfway through sterilization, that I shouldn’t be using the canning pot on a glass cook top (indicated on the pot, and in part, because the base of the pot is not flat), so we moved outside onto a propane camp stove for the water bath. The water bath process can be skipped if one wants to keep their pickles in the fridge, but I’d rather have the fridge space.

 I waited about 36 hours to pop open the first jar. And yes, this is a great pickle! Classic dill pickle flavor, with quite a kick of heat. If you like it spicy, I think Marisa hit it just right (I think my 1/4 teaspoons were overflowing a little). If spicy is not so much your thing, you may want to tone it down on the chili flakes. I noticed that as soon as I finished making these, I felt excited about sharing them. I especially can’t wait to give some to my pickle loving sister.

I can see how people get really into canning. It’s a fun process, and the results are so satisfying. I am already looking forward to more. Next up? Maybe some tomato jam.

Guest Post: Fridge Pickles

While I'm on vacation I asked my lovely cousin Emily of Thyme and Reason to step in for me. Emily is a semi-recent but incredibly productive backyard gardener living in the Bay Area, I'm always jealous of the things she can grow in her backyard!

I was born without a sweet tooth.  Since I was a kid, I have always preferred salty to sweet.  And as my romance with beer continues, so does my need for salty snacks: for roasted peanuts, hunks of parmesan, jars of fancy olives, and, of course, you already know my obsession with popcorn.  But summer brings barbecue season and mountains of farmer's market cucumbers, which means it's time to make pickles.

Pickles bring out the old country in me.  The shtetl in me.  The hot summers by the Danube in me.  Mind you, I am several generations removed from that life, and any pickles I ate were dished out in the suburbs.  I don't know if I am channeling the pre-Ellis Island kitchens of my past, but I do know this: when there are pickles on the table, I cannot stop eating them.  And nothing, I tell you, nothing makes a burger taste so right as housemade pickles.  Maybe it's that the spicy vinegar cuts the grease?  Or maybe it's because we always like what mom served, and when dad would barbecue, mom always served pickles.

Pickles are easier to make than you think.  Fill a clean jar or container about 3/4 of the way full of veggies.  Cucumbers can be sliced and go right in the jar.  Onions too.  If you are pickling other vegetables (my other jar is filled with radishes, carrots, and padron peppers), they should be blanched in boiling water for a minute, then plunged into ice water before you put them up for pickling.

Next, for one jar of pickles, combine 1 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp kosher salt, 1 tsp dill seed, 2 bay leaves, 5 cloves, 1 clove of garlic, slices of onion, crushed black pepper, and crushed pepper flakes if you like things spicy (which I do).  Liquid should cover your solids--if not, top off with more white vinegar.

Close the lid tight and shake it up so the sugar will dissolve a little and hard spices will distribute throughout.  This beautiful jar in the front is cucumber done with fresh jalapeno slices--yum!  You could easily play around with the flavors, substituting star anise for the dill.  Go wild.  

As the name implies, put your fridge pickles in the refrigerator, not on a pantry shelf.  Cucumber pickles will be ready to eat in a day and keep in the fridge up to a month.  Other veggies may take up to a week to pickle--just an excuse for you to open the jar and sample to see if they're done.  It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

speaking of pickles

after amy's post about pickled peppers on friday, i've been thinking i'd share with you some of my favorite pickle recipes.  let me just start by saying that i love pickles.  seriously love.  give me a jar of sour pickles and i'm set.  in my few years of making pickles, i've mostly stuck with cucumbers, with a slight [and delicious] foray into dilly green beans last year.

my stand-by recipe is for spicy polish dill pickles.  these are the perfect sour dill pickles with the added bonus of a nice spicy kick.  i discovered this recipe a couple of years ago and have adapted it a bit.

spicy polish dills
[adapted from that's my home]

3 1/2 lbs small to medium cucumbers, sliced in quarters [the long way] will make approximately 5 pint jars.  i prefer wide mouth for pickles so the jars are easy to pack.

while you are sterilizing your jars, make the brine.  for 3 1/2 lbs cucumbers, heat up 3 cups water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup canning/pickling salt.  heat until just before boiling [so it's bubbling around the edges]

once the jars are sterilized, pack each jar with:
1 grape leaf [this is key to keeping your pickles crunchy]
1 fresh dill head
1 whole jalapeno pepper
1 whole garlic clove
1/4-1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
cucumber slices

pour hot brine over packed jars, leaving 1/2" headspace at the top of the jars.  put on lids and bands and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

 

since i had so many cucumbers this year, [after making 3 batches of these pickles] i wanted to try something new.  last week, i made 2 new pickle recipes.  the first was these quick refrigerator pickles.  i'd always avoided refrigerator pickles, thinking they wouldn't be sour enough for me.  i put these together on friday [almost 36 hours ago] and tried one today.  while not as sour as i prefer, they are quite tasty, and definitely not sweet.  i think they'll only get better with time.  [side note: that jar in the top is the only thing i could find to weigh down the cucumbers that would fit within the opening of this half gallon jar.  looks weird, but it works!]

 

the third batch of pickles i'm currently experimenting with this year are these kosher dills.  i started these on friday evening as well and haven't tried any yet.  i'm going to put them in the fridge tonight and see how they progress.

so, any other favorite pickle recipes out there we should be trying?