Pickles the Vacu Vin way

10 years ago

I received a Vacu Vin pickler as a gift. Do you have one of these?

I made my first batch using a recipe that came with it. You put all the ingredients in the container and then use their hand pump to extract the air. I believe the theory is that this forces the brine into the pickles. They're left in the fridge for 4 hours (or overnight) before opening.

I was impressed! I've read that you can use other recipes, so I'll be trying some of my favorites. I can see these pickles becoming an instant hostess gift. :-)

Photo looks a little blurry from condensation because I took the cold jar outside into 94º, 59% humidity conditions. (I quickly went back indoors.)

Featured Answer

anoriginal

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

Foodsaver makes an attachment that lets you vac seal on just the lid to canning jars. I use it to store rice, lentils, beans to keep them relatively air tight. You can gently pop the seal and reseal MANY times, as long as you don't bend the lid. No need for the ring part. It's NOT for long term, "pantry" food storage... NOT a substitute for "canning". Thinking would work well for pickles??

Just went to Foodsaver site and they have things that look almost exactly the same... square instead of round.

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Comments (10)

murraysmom Zone 6a OH
10 years ago
I haven't heard of this, but it has some real potential. Those look pretty good. Can you make sweet and dill??
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
Murraysmom, apparently there's a lot of online talk about the pickler, with recipes on blogs, etc. I haven't delved into this yet, but I'm guessing you could do either one. The recipe I followed calls for white vinegar, sugar, dill seeds, cloves, black pepper, bay leaves, salt, pepper flakes (I left those out), cucumbers, and onions. I would say they turned out like a cross between sweet and dill. Definitely dilly, but not awfully sour.
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No because you didn't include the pH of the beets or the water they contain or the other contents of the jar - all of which contribute to the pH of contents. (Dave) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I did include the water in/from the other contents. lets take a 1000 cc container. Originally it was filled 50% solution and 50% solids(beets). Again lets assume that 50% of the beets were actually water(not really solid). We filled it at 2: 1 (vin. / wat 333 cc vin + 176 cc W + 500 beets) . But now (after sitting and leaching) we have:(333 cc vin + 417 cc w : 250 cc beets) Now our liquid consists of 333 cc vin + 417 cc water: another words, we have 5 parts water 4 parts vinegar. QUESTION: what is the pH ? The answer is pH Just let me show anther example as how pH changes: A solution with 3 parts water and one part vinegar(5%acetic acid) has a pH = 2.72. A few table spoon of vinegar in a quart of water can have a pH of smaller than 4. The reason for pressure canning is not so much that the acidity is hard to be raised, but because the acid cannot readily penetrated into certain food. So they take the high temperature rout to kill the bacteria deep inside the chunks. Correct me if I am wrong.
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justlinda
10 years ago
Are they transferred to another container once they have "pickled" so the pickler can be re-used, or do they have to remain in the pickler?
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
They can be transferred. I have my batch in a glass jar in the fridge. I suppose I could have used a plastic freezer container.
carol_in_california
10 years ago
I wonder if it would work with my food saver jar attachment thingy?
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
10 years ago
Oh I want those pickles! Are they dill, sour, or sweet. My faves are dill and sour. Never heard of the vacu vin
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
Raven, they taste of dill, but they're sweeter than sour dills. Not terribly sweet, though, especially since I reduced the sugar somewhat. But really, I think you could use any recipe of your choice. I'm going to hunt up the curry bread & butter pickles I used to make and see if they'll work.
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
Someone mentioned that attachment in a comment left on one of the Amazon reviews of the Vacu Vin. I just found it. He (or she) says:

"I have multiple vacuum sealing products but it is still hard to beat the old Pump-N-Seal for regular Mason jars. I have been using it for over 20 years. It works better than my Mason jar attachment on my FoodSaver."

That doesn't seem to answer your question though. No doubt the answer is somewhere on the Internet. :-)
cynic
10 years ago
I'd guess a vacuum sealer would work at least as well. Don't know what the actual vacuum pressure of this unit would be, I'm guessing the vacuum on a regular sealer would be higher. FWIW I have a Food Saver and a Pump-N-Seal. I prefer the Pump-N-Seal for most things. It's compact, works great and cheap. Supposedly it's also a much higher vacuum pressure than the Food Saver. It also works on other glass jars too, so you can use the big gallon jars or a small jelly jar as long as it will seal. It came with an attachment to use regular plastic bags too. I don't use them, I use mostly canning jars and reuse other glass jars. Enjoy your pickles.

Pickles the Vacu Vin way

anoriginal

Comments (10)

murraysmom Zone 6a OH

Alisande
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Pickles the Vacu Vin way

anoriginal

Comments (10)

murraysmom Zone 6a OH

AlisandeOriginal Author

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justlinda

AlisandeOriginal Author

carol_in_california

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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cynic

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Alisande
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