175 replies to this topic

[weinoo]

I went to the farmer's market this morning and got these veggies to try and turn into a middle-eastern pickle thing:




And they look like this in the jar after prepping; the beets turn everything red, I'm not using red-wine vinegar here, though it looks like I am!!

The jar on the right isn't all the way full, so I did the plastic bag thing with that one, and I'll be testing them starting Monday.

[annecros]

That looks like a great mix of veg, weinoo. What makes them Middle Eastern? Did you use any particular seasonings? Beets will do it to you every time, but they really are good.


Did the pickled green tomatoes and the chow chow (aka piccalilli, sometimes called India Relish) today.

Rinsed the excess salt off of the tomato/veg mixture, 2 cups of white vinegar, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tbsp of mustard seed. Brought it all up to a boil, immediately packed in hot sterilized jars, and processed in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yielded three pints.



For the chow chow, I also rinsed the excess salt, added two minced garlic cloves, 2 1/2 cups of malt vinegar, 1 tbs ground ginger, 1 tbs turmeric, 1 tbs dry mustard, 1/2 cup of sugar. Brought it up to a boil, simmered 5 minutes, immediately packed in hot sterilized jars, and processed in a boiling water bath for 8 minutes.

Yielded seven half pints.



I am looking forward to peeking in my pantry the next few months! And burgers and dogs for sure on the 4th of July.

[weinoo]

That looks like a great mix of veg, weinoo. What makes them Middle Eastern? Did you use any particular seasonings? Beets will do it to you every time, but they really are good.
Did the pickled green tomatoes and the chow chow (aka piccalilli, sometimes called India Relish) today.

Those pickled green tomatoes, a staple of our lower east side pickle vendors, look wonderful.

The middle-eastern pickle I'm trying is called torshi meshakel - or mixed pickles; I don't really know what makes them middle-eastern, per se, but it's a pickle without sugar; it contains both salt and vinegar. Seasonings are simple - dried chili peppers, garlic, and dill seed.

One of the most popular middle-eastern pickles, according to Claudia Roden in her Book of Middle Eastern Food, is torshi left, or pickled turnips...(and I get the feeling that torshi means pickle!). They are also packed with beets, which turns the turnips pink...I'm expecting my radishes and cucumbers and maybe even the little carrots in my pickle mix will turn pink as well.

[bloviatrix]

One of the most popular middle-eastern pickles, according to Claudia Roden in her Book of Middle Eastern Food, is torshi left, or pickled turnips...(and I get the feeling that torshi means pickle!).  They are also packed with beets, which turns the turnips pink...

I have 4 quarts of these curing in my pantry as I type. We go through them in massive quantites.

Several years ago someone here suggested this recipe for spicy dills. I make them often, and we're currently finishing the first batch of the season.

Later today I will make some "instant gratification" pickles. They're bread & butter pickles that only need about 4 hours of curing before they're ready to eat - hence, their name.

[annecros]

Did some more pickles for Fourth of July over the weekend. A lot of quick, small things:



Garlic Dill Spears, Bread and Butter Chips, Hot Pickled Okra, and the red stuff is Salsa that I went ahead and put up while I had my canning stuff going. Salsa recipe here.

The wide mouth pints are great for pickles. Easier to pack the spears tight, and you can just flip the jar over every day while they are pickling in order to make sure the cukes infuse properly.

[annecros]

One of the most popular middle-eastern pickles, according to Claudia Roden in her Book of Middle Eastern Food, is torshi left, or pickled turnips...(and I get the feeling that torshi means pickle!).  They are also packed with beets, which turns the turnips pink...

I have 4 quarts of these curing in my pantry as I type. We go through them in massive quantites.

Pickled turnips sound really good. I am putting in some turnips and mustard in the garden in the early Fall, so will put some up then.

[annecros]

And, just for SheenaGreena, Sweet Pickled Eggs and Beets:



I got lucky and found a bunch of baby beets, so did a little larger quantity as I had a dozen to use.

Whew! I'm done with pickles for a while now. Am checking them every day, and looking foward to cooking out on the 4th.

[Meridian]

I would like to know if anyone out there has ever pickled garlic. Can you give me your technique or point me in the right direction. Thanks

[annecros]

I would like to know if anyone out there has ever pickled garlic.  Can you give me your technique or point me in the right direction.  Thanks

I've never tried it, but am intrigued by the idea. My hubby does eat the whole garlic out of my other pickles, so I don't see why not.

Would be interested in hearing of other's experience.

[Bueno]

I pickle garlic all the time. I buy it in those big supermarket econo-tubs and pickle it just as I would my favourite dill pickle recipe. It's bloody delicious.

A recent quick-pickle a la minute concoction recently made it to the top of my all-time favourite pickle preps:

Seedless white grapes, organic grape tomatoes, thinly sliced shallot, one crushed glove of garlic (removed later) and thinly sliced lemongrass. Quick pickled with white balsamic.

[annecros]

I pickle garlic all the time.  I buy it in those big supermarket econo-tubs and pickle it just as I would my favourite dill pickle recipe.  It's bloody delicious.

A recent quick-pickle a la minute concoction recently made it to the top of my all-time favourite pickle preps:

Seedless white grapes, organic grape tomatoes, thinly sliced shallot, one crushed glove of garlic (removed later) and thinly sliced lemongrass.  Quick pickled with white balsamic.

Fill to overflowing and straight into the fridge, or does it need some room temp shelf time? Those pickled grapes sound really neat.

I am food safety ultra-paranoid. I can see the dill mix working for garlic, in fact hubby fishes them out. I always sort of thought of it as an aside, and garbage.

I was wrong.

[Pam R]

These books just arrived this morning:
Quick Pickles: Easy Recipes with Big Flavor, Chris Schlesinger, John Willoughby, Dan George
Ball Blue Book of Preserving
The New Preserves : Pickles, Jams, and Jellies, Anne V. Nelson

I'm going to take at least one of them to thumb through with post-it notes on my road trip this weekend.

I've quickly flipped through the Quick Pickles book, and the pictures are gorgeous.

[weinoo]

These books just arrived this morning:
Quick Pickles: Easy Recipes with Big Flavor, Chris Schlesinger, John Willoughby, Dan George
Ball Blue Book of Preserving
The New Preserves : Pickles, Jams, and Jellies, Anne V. Nelson

I'm going to take at least one of them to thumb through with  post-it notes on my road trip this weekend.

I've quickly flipped through the Quick Pickles book, and the pictures are gorgeous.

That's my favorite one...have made the back eddy house pickles, bread and butters, midwest garden and they're all quite tasty.

[Bueno]

Ordered. :)

[Chris Amirault]

In the last two days, I've made two batches of quick pickles.

Red onions sliced into thin wedges, kosher salt, and lime juice to cover in the fridge for two hours. Served as as topping for burritos.

Yellow onion and cucumber (I used english, but kirby or persian would work; those industrial behemoths don't) in 1/4" slices, salted for an hour, rinsed, drained, and squeezed, then in a 1:1 water/cider vinegar with about 1 T sugar and some dill from out back. Served with some fried chicken and hushpuppies.

One question for the experts. I've noticed that I like the squeaky, crisp texture of pickles that result from a very strong squeezing in a dish towel, as opposed to a simple drain or gentle squeeze. It also seems that the flavors absorb more quickly when I do this, which seems to make sense at a cellular level (squeeze out the liquid and the cukes absorb more to recover). But most of the directions that I've seen say to squeeze very gently. Is this just a taste/texture thing, or am I committing the kind of horrible crime that would get me tossed out of a state fair?

[Ktepi]

I have a digital camera finally, but I do not have a white plate.

Kool Aid watermelon rind pickles.

[annecros]

In the last two days, I've made two batches of quick pickles.

Red onions sliced into thin wedges, kosher salt, and lime juice to cover in the fridge for two hours. Served as as topping for burritos.

Yellow onion and cucumber (I used english, but kirby or persian would work; those industrial behemoths don't) in 1/4" slices, salted for an hour, rinsed, drained, and squeezed, then in a 1:1 water/cider vinegar with about 1 T sugar and some dill from out back. Served with some fried chicken and hushpuppies.

One question for the experts. I've noticed that I like the squeaky, crisp texture of pickles that result from a very strong squeezing in a dish towel, as opposed to a simple drain or gentle squeeze. It also seems that the flavors absorb more quickly when I do this, which seems to make sense at a cellular level (squeeze out the liquid and the cukes absorb more to recover). But most of the directions that I've seen say to squeeze very gently. Is this just a taste/texture thing, or am I committing the kind of horrible crime that would get me tossed out of a state fair?

Try presalting, draining and the rinsing for that squeeky clean, crisp mouth feel. A more natural way of pulling the moisture out of cukes than bondage and torture.

[jackal10]

Pickled radish pods
This is a variety of radish "Rattail" that is grown specially for its seed pods, crunchy, spicy and delicious, Besides pickles, they can be eaten raw, make a good snack with beer, or stir fried or in salad.

[Shelby]

Ok, here's mine! Pickled baby corn from my cornfields

Our fields







The perfect corn for pickling







Basket of corn



Shucked corn



Pickling ingredients



Finished product




Phew!

[annecros]

Phew! 

Wow! That was a job, and they look beautiful. What is that, about a dozen pints or so?

[Shelby]

Phew! 

Wow! That was a job, and they look beautiful. What is that, about a dozen pints or so?

Thank you Anne! Yeah it came out to 12. I usually do about 24, but I dunno if I am going to have time. If I don't have to work out of the home someday, I'll be pickling a bunch.

[annecros]

Phew! 

Wow! That was a job, and they look beautiful. What is that, about a dozen pints or so?

Thank you Anne! Yeah it came out to 12. I usually do about 24, but I dunno if I am going to have time. If I don't have to work out of the home someday, I'll be pickling a bunch.

Working out of the home is interesting, but working in the home is even MORE interesting. I know - am there, doing that.

It does look really good, and gosh you have to preserve it when it comes in, right?

More nutrition there than many people would think, as well. Good job.

[annecros]

Pickles on July 4th.



More details later.

[Shelby]

Pickles on July 4th.



More details later.

Gorgeous Anne! I love the pickled eggs!

[weinoo]

Great looking stuff, Anne!! I love the assortment.

Here's a batch of veggies I picked up at the farmer's market yesterday...
There's corn, baby beets (put up separately), cukes, baby shallots,
fresh garlic, Japanese turnips, red onions, red pepper and small eggplant.



Once prepped, they looked like this (notice the beets in the
background already pickling!)



For this batch, I'm trying a take on the Famous Back Eddy House Pickles in Schlesinger's Quick Pickles book.

[kiliki]

Someone raved about this spicy dill pickle recipe in another thread, but it's a quick pickle, not canned. Does anyone know if I can preserve these pickles in jars, or is there something different about canned pickle recipes?

epicurious spicy dills

[lucylou95816]

OH, I would love to participate, except the cucs haven't come to the markets yet here. For the last two years, we've done about a dozen jars or so of spicy dill pickles. Its a combo from Balls Blue book of Canning and a recipe that I found online. We use spicy peppers/garlic/dill. I'll be happy to post pics when we get down to business in a week or two if it isn't too late.

To contribute, here is a really easy and quick habanero pickled onion that I did recently with carnitas. My boyfriend and another foodie friend were quite hesitant to try them, but then when they did, it was a surprise, as they really liked them.


3 cups finely sliced white onions rings
4 cups boiling water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp dried Mexican oregano, toasted and crumbled
1 Habanero chili, finely sliced



Put the onions into a colander and immerse them in the boiling water for a few seconds. Drain and put into a glass or non-reactive bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Set aside to season for about 2 hours before using.

Edited by lucylou95816, 08 July 2007 - 02:16 PM.

[lcdm]

My cucumbers and garlic were ready, and my husband has been bugging me to make pickles, I used the brine recipe for the half sour pickles and added pickling spice, garlic, pepper corn, hot pepper flakes and dill:

Edited by lcdm, 10 July 2007 - 09:37 AM.

[Darren72]

Very interesting thread. Here's a question for the experts:

I made my first batches of pickles last summer: pickling cucumbers in either white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar. They turned out extremely tart. At the time, I remember reading that you had to use vinegar with at least a 5% acidity.

I've since seen a lot of recipes that call for a mixture of water and vinegar. This seems like it would produce a less tart pickle. But doesn't watering down the mixture violate the rule to pack the cucumbers in a liquid with 5% acidity?

Thanks!

[annecros]

Very interesting thread. Here's a question for the experts:

I made my first batches of pickles last summer: pickling cucumbers in either white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar. They turned out extremely tart. At the time, I remember reading that you had to use vinegar with at least a 5% acidity.

I've since seen a lot of recipes that call for a mixture of water and vinegar. This seems like it would produce a less tart pickle. But doesn't watering down the mixture violate the rule to pack the cucumbers in a liquid with 5% acidity?

Thanks!

Ah - you are asking the ever present acidity/food safety question that the Ball Blue Book and the USDA enforce absolutely strictly with no wiggle room. 5% acidity is the golden rule of canning.

It is up to you.

The way I get around it with cucumber pickles is to make a 2 to 1 or sometimes a 3 to 1 ratio of vineger/water, bring all to a boil for ten minutes, pour into the loaded jar and go straight to the fridge so that I can live with myself, and still eat the pickle.

Now, even at 2 or 3 to 1 the USDA recommends an extended processing time for the canned pickles (various, depending upon wether you are doing a boiling water bath or canning under pressure, jar size, etc.) that actually cooks the cucumber in the process and has a detrimintal effect on crispness.

Two ways to get around that are to either lime the cucumbers in advance, or use a product called "pickle crisp" as an additive. The end result is a pickle that can be processed under heat that is sufficient to kill any bacteria, but will retain a crisp finish to the tooth, because of the addition of calcium to the pourous cucumber. It takes time and study. I am sort of a lazy pickler.

All that being said, gazillions of pickles were made using the "open kettle" method (that is, stuffing the sterlized jars with the raw veg, bringing the brine to a boil and boiling ten minutes, then filling the jar to overflowing and slapping a lid on it) for a very long time, over many generations and decades. They went into the pantry as soon as they cooled off enough to handle, and stayed there all winter, consumed on a regular basis.

Some of those folks died and were in the cemetary by 40 though, so who knows?