Putting Food By - Janet Greene [148]
Use white sugar unless the recipe calls for brown. Brown makes a darker pickle. Sometimes a cook in the northern United States or in Canada may use maple sugar or syrup in her pickles for its flavor—but this is feasible only if she has lots of it to spare. (See Sweeteners in Chapter 5.)
Spices
Buy fresh spices for each pickling season. Spices deteriorate and lose their pungency in heat and humidity, so they should be kept in airtight containers in a cool place.
Additives for Crisping Pickles
To enhance the crispness of various cucumber and rind pickles, old cookbooks sometimes called for a relatively short treatment with slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or alum (see also Firming Agents in Chapter 5). Such chemicals are not necessary for good-textured products if the ingredients are perfect—well grown, unblemished, and perfectly fresh—and are handled carefully according to directions.
However, a company called Precision Foods from St. Louis, Missouri, offers a coordinated range of pickling materials, and PFB feels that, if you truly want to try these chemical additives, it’s best to use one of their mixtures (“Mrs. Wages”) because the balance has been tested, and there would be no danger of trouble from the traditional beginner’s notion that if some is good, a lot more is better.
A happier crisper-upper also mentioned in heirloom recipes is a natural one that, so far as we can discover, is safe to use without restriction. One bygone rule we’ve seen says to cover the bottom of the crock with washed grape leaves and put a layer of them on top of the pickles; and a Southern homemaker says scuppernong leaves are best. Another uses cherry leaves.
Water
Water used in making pickles should of course be of drinking quality (because otherwise contaminants can increase the bacterial load that leads to spoilage). Also, water with above-average calcium content can shrivel pickles, and iron compounds can make them darker than we like.
See Water in Chapter 5 for ways to rid water of some excess minerals, and for a discussion of how “hard” or “soft” water affects texture.
Methods
Long-Brine
Vegetables such as cucumbers are washed and dropped into a heavy salt solution (plus sometimes vinegar and spice) and left in a cool place to cure for 2 to 4 weeks. Scum must be removed from the brine each day. Following this the pickles are packed loosely in clean jars and covered with the same or freshly made brine and processed by low-temperature pasteurizations (180–185 F 82–85 C) or, if you prefer, a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C).
Short-Brine
Vegetables are left overnight in a brine to crisp up. The next day they are packed in jars, covered with a pickling solution, and finished in the Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for a suitable time.
Complete Precooking
Complete precooking is the rule for relishes and similar cut-up pickle mixtures in a sweet-sour liquid. Packed Hot in regular canning jars, these products then have a Boiling–Water Bath.
Low-Temperature Pasteurization Treatment
This treatment results in a crisper-textured product than the standard Boiling–Water Bath but must be carefully managed to avoid possible spoilage. Place the jars in a canner filled halfway with warm water (120–140 F/ 49–60 C). Then, add hot water to a level 1 inch above the jars. Heat the water to 180–185 F/82–85 C and adjust the heat to maintain the water at this temperature for 30 minutes. Check with a mercury pencil thermometer or instant-read thermometer frequently to be certain that the water temperature is at least 180 F/82 C during the entire 30 minutes of processing. Avoid heating the water above 185 F/85 C, as this will cause the product to soften.
Note: This treatment is for pickles and sauerkraut only. Use it only when a recipe indicates, and if you are uncomfortable with it, process in a Boiling–Water Bath instead, for the times indicated in the recipe.
Pickle, etc., Troubles, and What to Do
If you find any imperfect seals during the 24 hours between processing and storing your pickles, relishes, and sauces, you can dump