Alum is aluminium based, and was primarily used for some sour pickles to give them more 'pucker'. Today, its not used very much. There are a few pickling cucumber types that actually have a flavor of a pickle right off the plants. I forget where I saw this description, but it was interesting that they had a mild pickle taste even without adding any vinegar. As mentioned, none of the recipes could be used for home canning, and the refrigetion may be the only way to store them for a short term. I didn't find much of an effect when using grape leaves. They were usually added to canning jars to help keep the cukes a little crisper. Today, Pickle Crisp does the job very well. Pickle Crisp is food grade calcium chloride. What I have done is pickled Jicima in rice wine vinegar, and its used in sushi (California rolls). The rice wine vinegar is slightly sweet, with a slight amount of salt. I juilienne the jicima. Its texture is almost like a raw potato, only sweeter and mild. I also do the same with carrots. Both remain quite crunchy for a while in the fridge.

Sorry, unless its pure canning salt, or curing salt (also used in meat curing), its not recommended. Sea salt contains a LOT of other stuff, but you may find that the Morton Kosher (or another brand), may be fine if the silicone dioxide is not added. Also keep in mind that the Kosher is a very large granule and is not measured in the same way as pickling/curing salt, as volume wise you would use more. Sometimes evn big bucher shops can help too. They also cannot have any additives. Stay away from any rock salt too. Another option is to use a Ball, or mRs Wages pickle mix which usually has all the necesaary stuff except the water and vinegar.

Oh, yes!! I agree totally with FOAS!! On a new recipe where I'm not sure of how salty the ingredients are, I always scant the salt measure. One can always add salt, but there's no way to subtract it. This is billed as a traditional recipe, so may actually be accurate. The massive amount of salt is likely meant to be a preservative. The intro does say to be careful not to use other salt when using the pepper paste. Next time, you can make it to suit yourself with less salt if you're canning (though check with canning experts to make sure that will be okay) or refrigerating it. Sea Salt is coarse, but there are so many different kinds and sizes of salt that unless the type is very specific (such as table salt or kosher salt), I prefer to weigh it. Unfortunately, most recipes don't have accurate salt measures at all, let alone weights. I prefer when they say salt to taste. That means just enough salt so that it doesn't taste bland. Unless the flavor of the dish is supposed to be salty, you don't want saltiness to be part of the actual flavor--or are using it as a preservative. Unfortunately, for the reasons FOAS mentioned, as well as declines in the physical ability to taste salt that come with overexposure, age, infirmity, etc., too much salt is the current standard.

Most all canning/pickling salts will measure the same as table salt but Morton does make a coarse ground canning/preserving salt and it measures differently. Canning salt will actually contain slightly more sodium since pickling/canning salt does not include the stabilizers and anti-caulking agents that are added to table salt and make brine cloudy when used. The weight and taste difference is quite small, undetectable by most. All reputable canning recipes will stipulate canning/pickling salt be used to avoid the clouding and sediment issues if table salt is used. Dave