Pickles!

[hjshorter]

An episode of Good Eats, American Pickle, inspired me to start making homemade pickles last summer. I was very surprised at how easy it is. Anyone else pickle? What are some of your favorites? Do you make enough to can or do you keep them in the fridge for immediate consumption?

My faves so far are Alton's Firecrackers, which are hot pickled baby carrots, and pickled dilled green beans.

[tommy]

i've been very interested in making pickles for some time now. although i've never done it. what's your method, in a nutshell?

[MatthewB]

With Vietnamese meals, I often do pickled bean sprouts. They go fast!

[hjshorter]

i've been very interested in making pickles for some time now.  although i've never done it.  what's your method, in a nutshell?

You basically cut up whatever you want to pickle, make a flavored vinager and sugar brine, pour it over, and let them sit in the fridge for a few days. Here's a link to the Firecrackers. Click.

Edited May 27, 2003 by hjshorter (log)

[jackal10]

I have put my Pickled Shallots recipe in the archive.

A quick dill pickle is good for carrots. (vinegar, 50/50 with water, sugar, salt, dill, garlic. Steep for 24 hours)

I've yet to find a really good dill cucumber recipe.

Lots of issues:

a) Do you add vinegar, or just rely on natural lactic fermentation?

b) how do you keep them crisp?

c) Once pickled how do you store them? If I pastaurise mine go soft. If I just leave them in the fridge they get too sour.

Green Tomatos also make a nice pickle.

I guess chutney is a seperate thread.

Edited May 27, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[snowangel]

i've been very interested in making pickles for some time now.  although i've never done it.  what's your method, in a nutshell?

Depends on whether you want refrigerator pickles or whether you want to can them.

In either case, it is veggies with a brine. You may or may not add sugar and various herbs, spices and/or peppers.

I think the most important thing is that whatever you are pickling is extremely fresh. I know that when I make cucumber pickles, I pick the cukes, bring them inside and immediately put them into an ice water bath.

Two great sources are the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook and the John Thorne pamphlet called "The Dill Crock."

Both cover "refrigerator" pickles and the Farm Journal book covers "putting up" (canning). I tend to prefer the former, but don't have enough fridge space for a year's worth so do both.

[DaveFaris]

I think the most important thing is that whatever you are pickling is extremely fresh. I know that when I make cucumber pickles, I pick the cukes, bring them inside and immediately put them into an ice water bath.

Ditto. I was making 11 jars of fresh garlic pickles a week last year, during July and August last year. All from just 3 cucumber plants.

Alas, no garden this year.

I posted a recipe a few months back here on eGullet for pickled onions, which used frozen pearl onions, available year round. hmmm.... here it is.

[butterchik]

Bull Kelp Pickles- great on sandwiches and in sauces.

recipe here

[Nick]

Two great sources are the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook and the John Thorne pamphlet called "The Dill Crock."

Both cover "refrigerator" pickles and the Farm Journal book covers "putting up" (canning).  I tend to prefer the former, but don't have enough fridge space for a year's worth so do both.

The Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook is a good book to have. Very handy.

[fifi]

I pickle jalapenos every year when good thick walled ones come on the market. I love it when I can get the red ones. That way I can have them like they do them in Mexico... lots of garlic, herbs and spices, carrots, etc. I also use a mild vinegar (pineapple if I can get it) so they are not as vinegary as the ones you get here in the cans and jars. There is just no comparison.

I plan to do my father's watermelon rind sweet pickles this summer as a rememberance.

I don't bother with cucumber pickles anymore. There are some good ones available from the deli.

I keep preserved lemon as a "pantry staple" but I'm not sure that is really a pickle.

Pickling is really fun. I would like to try some fruit pickles sometime. I have an idea that when we get peaches or apricots in that are not as ripe as they could be that the only thing they would be good for is sweet pickles, maybe with spices. See... You could let your imagination run wild. The possibilities are endless.

[Lyle]

Okra.

Lots of peppers.

With martinis.

[hjshorter]

Two great sources are the Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook and the John Thorne pamphlet called "The Dill Crock."

Both cover "refrigerator" pickles and the Farm Journal book covers "putting up" (canning).  I tend to prefer the former, but don't have enough fridge space for a year's worth so do both.

The Farm Journal Freezing and Canning cookbook is a good book to have. Very handy.

Thanks for the book tips.

I've never canned, but there's a big new kitchen supply store in town with all the canning supplies you can think of so I'm thinking about getting some jars and having a go at it.

[hjshorter]

I pickle jalapenos every year when good thick walled ones come on the market. I love it when I can get the red ones. That way I can have them like they do them in Mexico... lots of garlic, herbs and spices, carrots, etc. I also use a mild vinegar (pineapple if I can get it) so they are not as vinegary as the ones you get here in the cans and jars. There is just no comparison.

Could you post that recipe? Sounds delicious.

A good friend of ours makes pickled peaches. They're wonderful.

[snowangel]

I don't bother with cucumber pickles anymore. There are some good ones available from the deli.

I know. But, kids really like being able to look at glistening jars of pickles and saying "I helped do this!"

[torakris]

My dad makes like a hundred jars of zucchini pickles every summer, he uses the recipe that my mom's mom gave him. I was weaned onto these and they are the most incredible things. With the price of zucchini in Japan I will not be making them though. The other day I saw a yellow zucchini, just one single zucchini (about 5 inches long) being sold for 500 yen (almost $5!)

I do make Japanese pickles quite a bit, none of them require canning, I also make kimchi a lot.

[Nick]

With the price of zucchini in Japan I will not be making them though. The other day I saw a yellow zucchini, just one single zucchini (about 5 inches long) being sold for 500 yen (almost $5!)

Now there is a market waiting to happen. I don't know about anyone else, but around here it gets hard to give zucchini away.

[Basilgirl]

I've been making the Spicy Dilll Pickles from the Epicurious web site for almost 10 years. I lost the original recipe, torn from Bon Appetit, with the day I made them written on it so I'd know when 10 days were up (that's how long they take before you can eat them - refrigerator pickle, no canning involved) - but was relieved to find it on Epicurious. I'd post a link if I wasn't so stupid

Anyway, they're very easy to make and everyone loves them. Please check it out when you have a minute.

[snowangel]

With the price of zucchini in Japan I will not be making them though. The other day I saw a yellow zucchini, just one single zucchini (about 5 inches long) being sold for 500 yen (almost $5!)

Now there is a market waiting to happen. I don't know about anyone else, but around here it gets hard to give zucchini away.

You are correct, Nick.

I don't know of anyone (me included) who grows zucchini here in Minnesota, but come summer, I seem to have a ton of the stuff. One of the tables at our church is always laden with it. Some of the "hidden" ones approach the size of a loaf of supermarket squish bread. I used to come home from work and find it on my doorstep.

Torakris, have you tried growing it?

[hjshorter]

I've been making the Spicy Dilll Pickles from the Epicurious web site for almost 10 years. I lost the original recipe, torn from Bon Appetit, with the day I made them written on it so I'd know when 10 days were up (that's how long they take before you can eat them - refrigerator pickle, no canning involved) - but was relieved to find it on Epicurious. I'd post a link if I wasn't so stupid 

Anyway, they're very easy to make and everyone loves them. Please check it out when you have a minute.

Thanks Basilgirl. They look great - I might make some this weekend.

Here's the link: Pickles!

[Xanthippe]

I pickle jalapenos every year when good thick walled ones come on the market. I love it when I can get the red ones. That way I can have them like they do them in Mexico... lots of garlic, herbs and spices, carrots, etc. I also use a mild vinegar (pineapple if I can get it) so they are not as vinegary as the ones you get here in the cans and jars. There is just no comparison.

Could you post that recipe? Sounds delicious.

A good friend of ours makes pickled peaches. They're wonderful.

Jalapenos done the real Mexican way are indeed wonderful; serranos can be prepared in the same manner.

Ohhhh, the mention of pickled peaches evokes memories of my childhood! They're scarce as hen's teeth these days, at least where I live.

[torakris]

With the price of zucchini in Japan I will not be making them though. The other day I saw a yellow zucchini, just one single zucchini (about 5 inches long) being sold for 500 yen (almost $5!)

Now there is a market waiting to happen. I don't know about anyone else, but around here it gets hard to give zucchini away.

You are correct, Nick.

I don't know of anyone (me included) who grows zucchini here in Minnesota, but come summer, I seem to have a ton of the stuff. One of the tables at our church is always laden with it. Some of the "hidden" ones approach the size of a loaf of supermarket squish bread. I used to come home from work and find it on my doorstep.

Torakris, have you tried growing it?

I (and about 10 friends) have all tried growing zucchini here, me for the last 5 years. i have only managed to get 1 zucchini in all of those years! I have tried everything, but it tends to all rot in the middle of rainy season, which just started last week!

I have 2 plants now and they are the biggest I have gotten them and I have about 4 pinky sized zucchini, however in the past as soon as they got this big they started to rot. So I guess i will have to wait and see, it is a lot cooler this year than it usually is, so maybe that is helping.

[Kim WB]

[Torakris, have you tried growing it?

I (and about 10 friends) have all tried growing zucchini here, me for the last 5 years. i have only managed to get 1 zucchini in all of those years! I have tried everything, but it tends to all rot in the middle of rainy season, which just started last week!

I have 2 plants now and they are the biggest I have gotten them and I have about 4 pinky sized zucchini, however in the past as soon as they got this big they started to rot. So I guess i will have to wait and see, it is a lot cooler this year than it usually is, so maybe that is helping.

[JAZ]

For anyone interested in refrgerator pickles (no canning, no sterilizing), Quick Pickles by Chris Schelsinger and John Willoughby is a great way to start. I've used their pickled beet recipe and have used several others as starting points for some experiments.

[Jim Dixon]

As with pie, for pickles I turn to my Mom who lives just down the street. As long as I can remember she's made an incredible sweet bread-n-butter style pickle. For most of my formative years, these were the only pickles I'd eat.

She slices pickling cukes thick, about half-inch, and brines them in an earthenware crock. The rest of the process and recipe is hazy, but the results are amazingly crisp with a sweet-tangy flavor. Probably the best pickle I've ever tasted.

I'll ask her for the recipe.

Jim

[Priscilla]

Wow Jim I hope you do ask your Mom for this ... I love bread & butter pickles and a recipe from a real cook who's made them for years and years would be a treasure.

Mmmm bread & butter pickles. Absolutely essential for liverwurst sandwiches. Also chopped into tuna salad, if it's going to be THAT kind of tuna salad.