Do you have to use distilled water?

15 years ago

I am canning beans, corn, pickles etc. I thought I read somewhere that you must use distilled water when making the pickle brine or filling up the jars of beans. Or can you use regular boiled tapwater?

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Comments (4)

belindach
15 years ago
I think it depends on the type of water you have. My water is extremely hard and I use filtered water whenever I need water.
digdirt2
15 years ago
Very hard water can cause discoloration of the food - very unappetizing. So yes, if your water is especially hard you'll like the end result better if you use softened or filtered water. It doesn't have to be distilled.

Dave
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You're killing your tree with that bag. The circles you made on the pics are all fungal infections from the high humidity and lack of air movement. The bag's gotta go. Remove & flush/burn the affected leaves & DO NOT MIST YOUR PLANT. IF you really are growing in the 5:1:1 mix, you needn't worry about watering properly or about salt build-up, so there is NO need to go to the expense of using distilled water. Forum discussions frequently center on the question of adding dilute coffee/tea or grounds to plants as a 'tonic', but Arabica (coffee) and Camellia (tea) are known for their toxic alkaloid (caffeine) content and their allelopathic affect on plants as well as autotoxic (to their own seedlings) effects on future generations. Caffeine interferes with root development by impairing protein metabolism. This affects activity of an important bio-compound (PPO) and lignification (the process of becoming woody), crucial steps for root formation. We also know that the tannins in both coffee and tea are known allelopaths (growth inhibitors). There are ongoing experiments to develop herbicides using extracts from both coffee and tea that cause me to want to say they might serve better as a nonselective herbicide than as a tonic. I would not use either on my plants; nor would I add tea bags/coffee grounds to my container soils. You should size your pictures before you post because when they are too wide you cannot view the whole thread w/o using the lateral scroll bar. Al
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Our city water supply often smells like a freshly chlorinated pool or metalic fish, so I use water from our distiller to water newly planted seeds that are started under lights indoors. At one week, I switch to the filtered water with a few drops of organic fish/kelp supplement. When we lived in another city, the plants did better if I let the chlorinated water'de-gas' a few days before using. We have two water filters on the house water line for bathing and clothes washing and a distiller for consumption. Before we installed the filters, our skin was often itchy. You would be amazed at the materials collected by the filters. Have read that some plants are very sensitive to the additives in public water supplies. Please report what you learn.
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readinglady
15 years ago
You can use distilled water, though some complain it lacks "character" and the pickles don't taste as good.

Hard water can be a safety and a quality issue. If pickles are being fermented, it may interfere with the process. Depending upon the minerals in the hard water (i.e. lime) it may also result in reduced acidity.

But instead of buying distilled you can soften your own water to use for pickling. Boil the desired amount for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool and cover. Leave 24 hours. If there's scum on the top when you return, skim it. Then carefully pour off the clear water, leaving any sediment in the bottom of the pan. The clear water is now fine for pickles.

Carol
ksrogers
15 years ago
No, as Reading lady has indicated. Distilled water has no unique 'character'. Many people are lucky to have a nearly neutral pH for water at 7.0 or down to 6.8. Hard water, high in minerals and calcium tend to affect pickle brine quality too, whether its vinegar or salt brine fermentation. I high iron water (brownish and metallic) is awful too. If you have decent drinking water that can comes out of the tap, you should be fine. If not, most ay bottled water can also be just fine use. Avoid DI water too, thats been deinoized, or demineralized. A big 5 gallon jug of bottled water is the easiest and cheapest way to go.

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Do you have to use distilled water?

Comments (4)

belindach

digdirt2

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readinglady

ksrogers

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