Pickles- the VERY first steps please!

16 years ago

Please be kind, i read back a few pages and can not quite seem to get this straight.

First I overplanted cukes, expecting some die-off, instead I have about 100 cukes comming ripe in the next week. Hubby has suggested pickles, I have never canned anything ever, I own 24 wide mouth mason jars, because I use them to store things like sugar that ants get into. I need some very, very basic direction here,

What supplies I need

How to process them

What book/website has safe recipies

I'm certain this has been asked before but I've not located it, and I know how wonderful garden webbers are at helping.

I'll even post a recipie for my granny's cheesecake in trade!

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Comments (9)

mellikat
16 years ago
Try this book. "The Ball Blue Book of Preserving"
Ball probably made your mason jars.

or try the website below. Canning is not hard....

Here is a link that might be useful: Ball Preserving
ksrogers
16 years ago
The questions you ask here, have been answered numerous times by many other beginners in this same forum. Basically, if your making pickles, you need spices, pickling salt and vinegar. The jars MUST have new, clean lids. The jars must also fit into a big tall pot that can hold them under boiling water for several minutes. Suggest you do a search for the simple word "pickles", which will bring up literally hundreds of suggestions, recipes, and processes. You are also, not limited to a vinegar based pickle either, as there are also salt brine pickles of many types. Cukes need to be very fresh (within hours) to give you good, crisp pickles. If they sit around a few days, they get rubbery and limp. At the bottom of each page, the search window is shown. Type it in there and be prepared to do a lot of reading!
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seysonn - I wasn't talking about pickling meat (though it can and is done), was just discussing buffering capacity. And yes, vegetables have some degree of buffering capacity whereas water doesn't which is where the simple formula breaks down. The denser the vegetable and/or harder the rind the more resistant to change in pH it is. So carrots and beets require more acid (and longer processing times and/or precooking before jarring) than peppers, and whole thick-skinned peppers require more than pepper rings or blanched peeled peppers. Heating the vegetables in the acid bath helps to acidify them, whereas cukes for example are mostly water and don't have as much buffering capacity so just heating the acid solution and pouring it over them is enough (heat processing after closing the jars helps too but in cucumber pickles is mainly done to kill other microbes and extend shelf life by killing mold spores and creating a strong vacuum). I'm sure there must be tables online that have the buffering capacity of various vegetables but I didn't find any the other night and I'm not paying $150 for a food science book to look it up. But just b/c I can't produce such a table doesn't mean I'm making this stuff up. Read paragraph 2, top of 2nd page in the attached PDF where it mentions buffering capacity if you don't believe me that this applies to vegetables. "...some barriers exist in the preparation of acidified foods, including inadequate acid in the cover brine to overcome buffering capacity of the food, the presence of alkaline compounds from peeling or other processing aids, and the peels, waxing, piece size or oil in the product which can cause a barrier to penetration of the acid." You're free to do anything you want in your kitchen, but following "approved" USDA recipes for home canning is smart if you don't want to put family and friends at risk. And following FDA regulations regarding review, testing, and approval of recipes is required for interstate commerce. Within state - that depends on the state's cottage food laws, but it's prudent to at least follow the USDA recommendations even if the laws are pretty lax just to CYA. salsalady sells her stuff refrigerated (and not a strong vacuum b/c it's not BWB'd) - but she's right that you need enough acid. Wrong that BWBing will make up for it if not - in fact, the opposite. As I said on other thread(s), botulism toxin can form in the anaerobic environment if pH is over 4.6, so it's actually safer NOT to seal the jars (either by BWBing or open-kettle - what she calls modified hot pack - and just refrigerate them if you don't know that the pH is below that. madferret - wow, that's strong stuff! Be careful handling it, it's very caustic. In the U.S. I guess we used to be able to buy 20% vinegar and so the recipes called for less water than they do now. You will have to dilute that to use - are you sure it's food-grade? Even if it is, I don't know that I'd want to handle it in the kitchen - or anywhere. Wear gloves and googles! Did you buy it for weed killer? My apologies to Jay for getting sort of OT - I'm sure your sauce is fine if you used straight vinegar. Judo had posted a while ago on Harvest - if you have any questions about the safety of your recipe you can post over there and get some more experienced eyes to look at it - or call your local extension office. I'm not an MFP, have just been pickling a few years and took the FDA's acidified food course last year. Edited to add: there is no such thing as an "acidic" vegetable - though peppers are a fruit (and so are tomatoes), tomatoes are borderline acidic which is why USDA recommends adding acid to jars when canning (though FDA gives an exemption to tomato products under 4.7 - ? - and doesn't consider them "acidified foods"). Anything under 4.6 requires acidification for safe BWBing - that includes peppers, onions, cucumbers, etc. that we consider vegetables as well as borderline or low-acid fruits such as tomatoes, figs, melons and Asian pears. If you don't want to acidify (pickle) them, you have to pressure can, though USDA also recommends acidifying tomatoes before PCing - probably because of the very short processing time. Here is a link that might be useful: Food Safety Considerations - in plain English This post was edited by ajsmama on Fri, Jul 25, 14 at 18:37
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dgkritch
16 years ago
And don't hesitate to come back here with specific questions after you decide what kind of pickles you want to make!

Watch out though....................canning is addictive.

Deanna
readinglady
16 years ago
Hi fishymamas, welcome to Harvest.

I think we need more information from you in order to be as helpful as you would like. Do you prefer sweet pickles or dills?

Do you have refrigerator space? Would you like to try a simple refrigerated pickle or just canned ones?

For safe recipes a source that hasn't been mentioned that's available online for free is the NCHFP (National Center for Home Food Processing). I've provided a link to their pickles page. You might start by reading their general information on pickling and looking through their cucumber recipes. Then you can come back with the next set of questions! :)

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: How Do I Pickle?
fishymamas
Original Author
16 years ago
I have a decient sized fridge, I also have a 15cuft deep freezer, and a built-in pantry. According to hubbt he likes dill pickles, sweet pickles, pickled relish, basically if it's a pickle he likes it (no pickled eggs or pigs feet though).

I've no clue on the pots, pressure cookers, canners etc, though, what is what?
Linda_Lou
16 years ago
Carol posted a good site for you. It is the most reliable one I know of.
If you have a deep stock pot that will hold the jars and have enough room to put water over the tops by 1-2 inches and have room for it to boil, you can use it to process your pickles in. Put a folded towel or a cake rack or something in the bottom so the jars don't break. You will need a lid on the pot. You can use a cookie sheet even as a lid. If you are near a thrift store you may be able to buy a blue speckled water bath canner there more cheaply, if you want to buy one.
You will need a canning jar tong to put the jars in and out of the water with. Here you can buy them for just a few dollars at Walmart or places that sell canning supplies. Even the grocery store has them here.
You will need pickling salt, too, for your pickles.
If you like sweet ones, the ones they call "Linda Lou's Sweet Chunk Pickles" are good ! Well, I could be a bit biased, ha ha !
Sweet pickle chunks:

Pour boiling water over 24 pickling cukes for 4 days. On 5th day, drain, add this syrup.Cut cukes in chunks.
8 cups sugar
4 cups cider vinegar 5% acidity
3 1/2 tsp. pickling and canning salt
2 Tbsp. pickling spices, tied in a bag.

Drain and heat syrup for 3 more days. On 4th day, pack pickles into jars, seal with lid. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes.
I love these with tuna!

I use this recipe for dill pickles:
It is my favorite one for dills. I cut in spears, some were in thicker slices, some I did whole.

KOSHER DILL PICKLES (HEINZ RECIPE)

4 lbs pickling cukes
14 cloves garlic, peeled & split
1/4 cup salt
2 3/4 cups distilled or apple cider vinegar 5% acidity
2 3/4 cups water
12 to 14 sprigs fresh dill weed
28 peppercorns

Wash cucumbers; remove 1/16 inch from blossom end, cut in half lengthwise.

Combine garlic and next 3 ingredients; heat to boiling.

Remove garlic and place 4 halves into each clean jar, then pack cucumbers, adding 2 sprigs of dill and 4 peppercorns.

Pour hot vinegar solution over cucumbers to within 1/2 inch of top. Immediately adjust covers as jar manufacturer directs.

Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Makes 6-7 pints
readinglady
16 years ago
And of course there's no reason why hubby can't help with the pickling since he has so many suggestions! :)

Carol
dgkritch
16 years ago
And here's a good Dill relish:

Dill Relish
Ingredients
8 pounds pickling cucumbers
1/2 cup Ball 100% NaturalÂ® Canning and Pickling Salt
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 quart water
1 pound yellow onions
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dill seed
1 quart white wine vinegar
Instructions
Prepare BallÂ® or KerrÂ® jars and closures according to instructions found in Canning Basics.
Wash cucumbers; drain. Remove 1/16-inch from blossom and stem ends of cucumbers. Finely chop cucumbers in a food processor or food grinder. Place chopped cucumbers in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Pour water over cucumbers; let stand 2 hours. Peel and finely chop onions. Drain cucumbers. Rinse under cold water; drain. Combine cucumbers, onions, sugar, dill seed and white wine vinegar in a large saucepot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Carefully ladle hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with a BallÂ® Bubble FREERÂ or a nonmetallic spatula. Wipe rim and threads of jar with a clean damp cloth. Place lid on jar with sealing compound next to glass. Screw band down evenly and firmly just until a point of resistance is met - fingertip tight.
Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
Yield: about 7 pints.

My notes: This is very thick. I like it that way, but if you're wanting a runnier saucy type relish, this isn't it!
This is more like you just chopped up a bunch of dill pickles (which you can do, of course). And it seems like I got more than 7 pints. Maybe not, I did mine in 4 oz. jars and half pints since we don't go through it very fast. I won't need to make more for 2-3 years!!

You may want to see if you can find some books on canning at your local library too.
Deanna
kayskats
16 years ago
you might try some freezer pickles - they're quick and cool and very fresh tasting.
this is the recipe I've used for years. I'm not sure why but pickles packed in vinegar and sugar before freezing stay somewhat crisp. I sometimes use cider vinegar rather than the white

SLICED FREEZER PICKLES

Yield: about 4 pints.

7 cups unpeeled cucumbers sliced thin
1 cup onions sliced thin
1 cup red bell peppers sliced thin
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon celery seeds

Sprinkle salt over sliced cucumbers; let sit one hour and then drain.
Make syrup with vinegar, sugar and celery seed. Bring to boil till sugar is dissolved. Let cool.
Mix cukes with onions and pepper, Put vegetables into sterile jars and fill with syrup. Freeze.
Can thaw and eat after 24 hours.

Pickles- the VERY first steps please!

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Pickles- the VERY first steps please!

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