Download - Preserving the Perfect Pickle
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Dills, Sweets, Kraut, Relishesand Other Foods
Preserving the Perfect Pickle
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Overview• Types of pickled products• The process• Ingredients• Equipment
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Pickled Products• Brined or fermented pickles
• Cured in brine (salt and water) solution for one or more weeks
• Either produce an acid or you add an acid
• Fresh pack or quick process pickles• Sometimes brined for a few hours• Covered with boiling hot vinegar,
spices and seasonings (adding an acid)
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Other Pickles• Fruit pickles
• Whole or sliced fruits• Simmered in a spicy, sweet-sour
syrup made with vinegar or lemon juice
• Relishes• Chopped fruits and vegetables• Cooked in a spicy vinegar solution
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What kind of pickles did Aunt Bee make?1. Use a brine that is less heavy
2. Add extra sprig of parsley or two steeped in the vinegar
3. Use younger cucumbers4. Drain them more5. Use fresher spices6. Boil the vinegar two seconds
more
Fresh pack
or
quick process
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What Makes a Pickle a Pickle?
• Form an acid• Brined• Fermented• Produces “lactic acid”
• Acid is added• Vinegar• Lemon Juice
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Why Add Acid?
• Do not need to be pressure canned if they have a pH of 4.6 or lower
• A pH of 4.6 or less will not support growth of Clostridium botulinum
Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation
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Why Process in Water Bath?
• Kills spoilage organisms • Yeasts• Molds• Bacteria
• Controls enzyme activity• Flavor• Color • Texture Source: USDA Complete Guide
to Home Canning
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Ingredients in Pickling
• Produce• Salt• Vinegar• Sugar• Spices• Water• Firming agents
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Produce
• Tender vegetables and firm fruit, selected by size
• Pickling cucumbers (not “table” or “slicing”), unwaxed
• Pickle within 24 hours after picking for best quality
• Wash well• Discard produce with mold
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Salt• Pure granulated salt
• “pickling” salt• “canning” salt
• No anti-caking materials• Do not alter salt concentrations• Do not reduce salt in a recipe
unless it is in a tested recipe using less salt—salt is a preservative
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Vinegar• Preservative• Cider or white vinegar
• Cider vinegar can discolor light produce
• White distilled for onions, cauliflower and pears
• 5% acidity• Use amount stated in recipe
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Sugar• White sugar unless recipe states
brown• Sugar substitutes
• Can develop off-flavor or bitterness
• Can lose sweetening properties
• Follow tested recipes specific to the type of sugar substitute
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Spices• Use fresh whole spices for best
quality and flavor• Powdered spices can make pickles
dark and cloudy• Tie whole spices in a
clean white cloth or cheesecloth bag, removebefore packing jars
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Water
• Drinking quality or “potable”• Soft water is preferred
• Iron: discoloration• Calcium: shriveling• Boil hard water for
15 minutes and let stand, covered, for 24 hours
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Firming Agents• Not needed when
• Good quality ingredients are used• Up-to-date methods are used
• Soak cucumbers in ice water for 4 to 5 hours
• Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end
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Blossom End of a Cucumber
Blossom End Stem End
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Lime• Calcium in lime does improve
firmness• Use food grade pickling lime (not
agricultural or burnt lime)• Soak cucumbers in lime-water
solution 12 to 24 hours before pickling
• Excess lime absorbed by the cucumbers must be removed to make safe pickles
Do not inhale dust
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To Remove Excess Lime• Drain lime-water solution• Rinse• Re-soak in fresh water 1 hour• Repeat rinsing and soaking two
more times• Failure to remove lime
adequately may increase the risk for botulism
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Alum
• Aluminum potassium sulfate• Can be safely used, but not
recommended• Used for fermented pickles, does not
work for quick process• Powdered form found in spice
section of grocery stores
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Food Scales
• Recipe specifies ingredients by weight
• Important for pickledproducts
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Pans• Heat liquids in
• Stainless steel• Aluminum• Glass• Unchipped enamelware
• Do not use• Copper• Brass• Galvanized or iron utensils
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Fermenting and Brining• Small quantities: crock or stone jar,
unchipped enamelware, large glass jar or bowl
• Large quantities: enamel, glass or paraffin-lined keg or barrel
• Cover for container• An undersized lid to hold food below
surface of brine• Food-grade plastic bag
• When using lime, do not soak in an aluminum container
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Process in Water-Bath Canner
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Pickle Principles
1. Do not alter vinegar, food, or water proportions in a recipe or use a vinegar with unknown acidity.
2. Use only recipes with tested proportions of ingredients.
3. There must be a minimum, uniform level of acid throughout the mixed product to prevent the growth of C. botulinum bacteria.