Putting Food By - Janet Greene [147]
Pickles and relishes are first cousins. Their major difference is that vegetables and/or fruits for relishes are chopped before being put with the vinegar, and those for pickles are left whole or cut to fairly large size.
Equipment for Pickles and Relishes
The characteristic to keep in mind is the interaction of the vinegar and salt with metals: use enameled, earthenware, stainless steel, or glass containers to hold or cook these mixtures—never use anything that’s galvanized, or copper, brass, iron, or aluminum.
Water-Bath canner (or stockpot with rack). 6-to 8-quart enameled kettle for short brining and cooking pickles.
Jars in prime condition, with lids/sealers/gaskets ditto.
Minute-timer with warning bell to time processing periods.
Mercury pencil thermometer or accurate instant-read thermometer Shallow pans (dishpans are fine).
Ladle or dipper.
Long-handled wooden or stainless steel spoon for stirring.
Wide-mouth funnel for filling containers.
Jar-lifter.
Colander for draining.
Large measuring cups, and measuring spoons.
Squares of cheesecloth to hold spices.
Plenty of clean dry pot holders, dishcloths, and towels.
Household scales.
Stoneware crocks.
Essential Ingredients
The Produce Itself
Any firm-fleshed vegetable or fruit may be used. Fresh, prime ingredients are basic. Move them quickly from garden or orchard to pickling solution. They lose moisture so quickly that even one day at room temperature may lead to hollow-centered or shriveled pickles.
Perfect pickles need perfect fruits or vegetables to start with. The blossom ends of cucumbers must be removed (since any enzymes located there can cause pickles to soften while brining), but do leave ¼ inch or so of stem.
Salt
Use only plain, pure pickling salt or kisher salt, either coarsely or finely ground, without additives. The 5-pound bags of canning/pickling salt from the supermarket are ideal. Avoid like the plague any salt designated as “solar” or “sea” (even though the latter may be food-grade in a gourmet shop, it contains minerals that could play hob with food during the fermenting or curing process).
Do not use table salt. Although pure, the additives in it to keep it free-running in damp weather make the pickling liquids cloudy; the iodine in iodized salt darkens the pickles.
Do not use the so-called rock salt or other salts that are used to clear ice from roads and sidewalks: they are not food-grade.
Salt, as used in brining pickles, is a preservative. A 10 percent brine, about the strongest used in food preservations, is 1 pound/about 1½ cups salt dissolved in each 1 gallon of liquid. Old-time recipes often call for a brine “that will float an egg”; translate this to “10 percent brine.”
Brine draws the moisture and natural sugars from foods and forms lactic acid to keep them from spoiling.
Juices drawn from the food dilute the brine, weakening the original salt solution.
Vinegar
Use a high-grade cider or distilled white vinegar of 5 to 6 percent acidity. The acidity of the vinegar should be indicated on the label. Never use vinegars of unknown acidity or your own homemade wine vinegar. The latter develops “mother” that clouds the pickling liquid. Use white vinegar if you want really light pickles.
Warning: NEVER reduce the proportion of vinegar called for if, when you make the recipe again, you have decided that the pickle was too tart. Instead, deal with the unwanted tartness by adding sugar—¼ cup white sugar for every 4 cups of vinegar called for in the recipe—and you will not have upset the tested-for-safety ratio of vinegar to low-acid ingredients. If it’s still too puckering, get yourself another recipe.
Sweeteners