Question about pickling spice amounts

[Kim Shook]

Jessica has been doing pickled vegetables for awhile now, with great success.  She's been putting them in different sized Mason jars, but has gotten ahold of a giant 128 oz. pickle jar and is thinking of doing one large batch instead of multiple jars.  She has two questions:

 

1.  Is this a good idea at all?  Or should she just stick with the smaller individual jars?

 

2.  If this is a good idea, she wonders if, as she is multiplying the amounts of her ingredients, should she equally multiply the spices.  I.E. - if a recipe calls for 3 cups of vinegar, 2 1/2 T. kosher salt, 3 tablespoons coriander seeds, mustard seeds, and whole peppercorns, and she's going to multiply it by three; should she multiply the vinegar, salt, and spices TOO?  Or multiply only the vinegar and hold back a bit on the other stuff?  

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I'll weigh in on this although I'm not sure what's being made and why.

When you say pickled vegetables are these meant to be refrigerated and eaten as is or processed via canning?

If they're meant to be refrigerated small amounts that can be consumed in a relatively short time is best. I had to do a conversion with volume however that's close to 4 liters volume so does consumption  rate that amount? These can get pretty old in the frig unless you keep repackaging them in smaller containers.

Yes you have to scale up the vinegar and salt and probably get away with less spices.

Just my $0.02.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

22 minutes ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I'll weigh in on this although I'm not sure what's being made and why.

When you say pickled vegetables are these meant to be refrigerated and eaten as is or processed via canning?

If they're meant to be refrigerated small amounts that can be consumed in a relatively short time is best. I had to do a conversion with volume however that's close to 4 liters volume so does consumption  rate that amount? These can get pretty old in the frig unless you keep repackaging them in smaller containers.

Yes you have to scale up the vinegar and salt and probably get away with less spices.

Just my $0.02.

 

 

Yes, she just does raw vegetables - she doesn't process them in any way.  She's found that between what we eat and what she shares with others a lot get used up fairly quickly.  It helps that she uses hard vegetables - carrots, cauliflower, garlic cloves, green beans, etc. - no soft stuff like cucumbers.    I suspected that she could cut back on the spices.  Thank you!  

[blue_dolphin]

Personally, I like to make smaller batches with different seasonings but if that big jar fits easily in your fridge* and the volume can readily be consumed while it’s good, then go for it!  

*I made a big batch of shiso vinegar last year, planning to divvy it up into smaller bottles for holiday gifts.  I had to adjust the fridge shelves to accommodate the tall jar and it annoyed me for months!

[Kim Shook]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Personally, I like to make smaller batches with different seasonings but if that big jar fits easily in your fridge* and the volume can readily be consumed while it’s good, then go for it!  

*I made a big batch of shiso vinegar last year, planning to divvy it up into smaller bottles for holiday gifts.  I had to adjust the fridge shelves to accommodate the tall jar and it annoyed me for months!

We luckily have a small "college fridge" in our family room, so that will be the home for the giant jar.  So, do you agree with @Senior Sea Kayaker that she can back off the spices a little?  My thinking was that in all that brine a smaller amount would flavor the pickle just as much as a large amount would.  Does that compute?

[haresfur]

In the absence of any experience, I'd leave the proportions the same and adjust next time.

[blue_dolphin]

I'd also keep the brine recipe the same. It would be a pity to make a huge jar and find they were bland. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Good advice from all.

Let us know how things turn out.

I'm curious to how scaling up affects the end result.