View Full Version : What pickles do you like to make and eat?
Just for fun, I thought some might like to see what is demand for relish items.
The reason it came up is because I got our dill pickles (14 qts), bread and butter (2 qts) and mixed veggie sweet pickles (18 qts) done this weekend. I am totally pooped though. I have some sweet syrup left over and will keep some for thinning mayo to add to shredded cabbage for a really good coleslaw.
I still need to make enough beet pickles to last for a couple of years and some tomato salsa.
What pickles do you like to eat and/or make each year.
My Mother in law, now deceased, made the most fabulous little bitty sweet pickles. I horded the last jar after her death for some years. They were not in a heavy sticky sweet syrup but where just sweet enough, and crunchy.
I have never made pickles before but just bought a PerfectPickler gadget that you attach to a mason jar to make fermented pickles or sauerkraut:
http://www.perfectpickler.com/products/Mason-Jar-Kit.html
This is far less costly than a crock and allows for smaller batches. Easy to store, too. SO - I am planning to start soon!
I love bread and butter pickles. I make about 30 jars last year, so I still have enough for the next year. Today I made seven pints of dilly beans. I plan on making more pickled beets too. I just can't get enough of those.
I like to make salt-fermented pickles. When I was growing up in New York, they were called "sour" pickles. I especially like the "half-sour" pickles that are still refreshing and aren't as salty as the full-sours. I've been trying to branch out to other salt-fermented vegetables besides cucumbers. Zucchini worked well. Daikon (Asian white radish) worked terrific. This year I'd like to try carrots and maybe a few other vegetables.
SteveinMN, do you have a particular recipe or salt:vegetable ratio that you use? Please share - I'm new to this!
We love bread and butter pickles, Kosher Dills, Dilly Green Beans and pickled beets. DH is perfecting a recipe for pickles in a mustard sauce. We even make our own gallons of dill vinegar to use in our pickles. We still have some left over from last fall but will no doubt make more this year as DH is a pickleaholic!
Rosemary, here's my recipe:
Half-Sour Pickles
1/4 cup pickling salt
3 cups distilled water (*must* be distilled, not tap water or bottled water)
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced or just mashed
1 tablespoon pickling spice (I pick out most of the allspice berries because I don't like too much of that flavor in pickles)
pickling cucumbers
Glass/ceramic/plastic container with cover (I use "rescue" gallon-sized containers from a local bakery)
Glass/ceramic/plastic plate smaller than the diameter of the container
1. Dissolve the salt in the water in the container.
2. Add pickling spice and garlic to the brine.
3. Wash pickling cucumbers, remove any stem ends, and put them into the brine. If there isn't enough water to cover the cucumbers, add more distilled water. If you have to add a lot of water, add similar parts of pickling salt, garlic, and pickling spice. If the cucumbers float, use the plate to weigh them down. No part of any cucumber should be exposed to air.
4. Loosely cover (do not seal) the container and leave it at room temperature (60-80 F) for 3-4 days (less time if it's warmer out). Move the container to the fridge when the pickles are to your taste.
We do a spicy bread & butter pickle that goes over pretty well. The idea came from Famous Dave's BBQ restaurants, they serve "hell fire" pickles that are to die for. Basically its just a b&b with peppers and black peppercorns added to the mix. We like it hot so add habeneros and jalapenos, but they're great with just the jalapenos. Extra onion in the jar also boosts the flavors.
I used to make bread and butter pickles that needed to be processed, but now am trying some icebox dills. The family likes them alot.
I cut my cucs into spears and then use a brine of water, distilled vinegar, lots of garlic, mustard seed, dill seed, dill weed, salt, sugar and a few red pepper flakes. You let them sit at room temp for 2 hours, then in the fridge for 10 days. Supposedly they keep for 1 month. We've been sneaking some before the 10 days, and they are still good. I'm playing around with the amount of sugar. Started with half what the recipe called for, then slowly added a few tablespoons to the next batches. I will soooooooooooooooooooooooo miss my fresh cucs from the garden.
IshbelRobertson
8-7-12, 12:06pm
I make a lot of chutneys, but not until the beginning of September. Lots of piccalilli, too. I used todo pickled onions,but mine were not a patch on those from a couple of commercial makers!
I make a lot of chutneys, but not until the beginning of September. Lots of piccalilli, too. I used todo pickled onions,but mine were not a patch on those from a couple of commercial makers!
I like my B&B pickles and beets way better than what I can buy at the market, but my dills and kosher pickles are never as good, so I stopped making them.
CathyA: Are your refrigerator pickles crisp? (actually that goes for all you home picklers.) We made a huge barrel of pickles one year and they were mush.
A friend of mine told me that if you add grape leaves to refrigerator pickles they retain their crispness. It has something to do with interacting with the enzymes that are the cause of the skin getting soft.
Also, how many of you grow pickling cukes vs. using regular everyday ones?
Apparently, if one soaks the pickles in a brine for a few hours, it will crisp them as well.
I buy my cukes from a market garden and they are picked that morning in such a volume that I can get it all done in a day.
Those almost sour pickles have tweaked my interest.
CathyA: Are your refrigerator pickles crisp? (actually that goes for all you home picklers.) We made a huge barrel of pickles one year and they were mush.
I've read that that can come from two places: either the water used (minerals or other things that may interact with the cucumbers) or older cukes.
Also, how many of you grow pickling cukes vs. using regular everyday ones?
I buy pickling cukes at the farmer's market. They're not more than a couple of days old and then I try to get them started right away. I try to use pickling cucumbers because I prefer their texture once pickled. The regular "slicing" cucumbers seem to be more watery/less crisp when salt-pickled.
We use my Grandmother's Garlic Dill recipe - best when baby cukes are used. I haven't made them for a couple of years and my family is bugging me to do another batch.
Have you noticed that many of the commercial pickles are now canned in India? Whats with that? I can't believe that we can't pickle our own right here in the USA - cheaper than having them shipped from 1/2 way around the world?
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