I’m making a batch of kosher dills today and I thought maybe we should have a pickle thread. Since we moved, this is the first time we’ve been able to have a big garden and although the weeds have been a problem, i’m looking forward to pickling cucumbers, hot peppers and green beans. Plus I over planted my tomatoes big time so I’m going to be needing some good salsa recipes and I may even try tomato juice but we shall see.
Anyone else have anything going into brine or vinegar these days?
The next frontier for me is vinegar. Does malt vinegar make good pickles?
you can add some for taste or use it for quick pickles but without knowing the actual analysis of the vinegar it’s not really safe to use it for the primary acid source in canning.
although I suppose you could use a pH meter on the final product before sealing and be pretty safe. But Don’t quote me on that.
Tomolives. Pure money.
I prepared some of my IPA Hop pickles a couple of weeks ago. I added a pint of my IPA to the brine to make this half-gallon recipe. Delicious!
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Which are?
http://www.mrswheelbarrow.com/2010/08/tomolives-pickling-green-tomatoes/
Exactly what to do with all those green tomatoes that you know you’ll never eat should they ripen. I usually plant one plant just to take firm green tomatoes from to pickle.
We make spicy garlic pickles, cold packed, no vinegar, just spices, garlic, kosher salt and jalapeños. Two families and about 200 jars total coming up first weekend in August! Recipes go back 50 years
We’ve had a miserable tomato crop this year. However, talk at work hums with the talk of pickling and canning!
You can use a 50/50 salt sugar brine in equal amounts to vinegar. So 500ml brine + 500ml vinegar+ seasoning= pickle. I like to pour this hot over washed peppers and carrots packed in mason jars. The pH should be low enough to keep in the cupboard but I stash them in the fridge just to play it safe.
My first batch of pickles didn’t turn out. I put them in my crock and weighted them down with the stone but a bunch if them managed to escape and molded. They smelled bad so I dumped.
Second batch back in mason jars and should be ready early next week.
Been enjoying a few batches of pickled eggs, too. Anxiously awaiting some that I added bunches of fresh garden picked jalapeños too. Read next week sometime.
Anyone ever make a fermented hot sauce? Looks like I’m going to have a good crop of serranos this year, so I’m thinking of giving that a whirl. I’m wondering if I need a lacto starter, or if it will reliably go on its own saurkraut-style. I’m also on the fence on whether I use them green or let them ripen fully.
The are books on pickling and fermented foods by Sandor Katz.
A guy I work with uses a yogurt starter from the natural food store, not sure if that’s cheaper than a lacto culture from the LHBS. Salting and covering like saurkraut should work too I’d think.
I was actually wondering about adding malt to my brine to get more lacto into the process. Since malt is supposed to be covered in lacto (sour fermentations and all that right…?) my thinking is that it should help but who knows. Maybe some runnings from my next mash collected after the mash tun has sat full of spent grain over night?
Not a bad idea. I don’t think there is much alive after a mash though. 140 * 30min is pasteurization temp. You could put fresh malt in a thermos and add dme and hot water though.
Interesting idea.
Another thought is adding Brett to the brine after it has cooled, but I’m wondering what the acidity from the acetic acid would do to the Brett cell walls. Maybe try blending a Brett beer to the brine of some pickles as an experiment. I believe the flavors would blend well.
Well, somethings gotta be making that smell 
I make my own fermented hot sauce and can testify that they will spontaneously ferment on their own without any help.
What I do is rinse the peppers, roughly chop them and then puree in a blender with water and about 6% salt by weight. Makes a pepper slurry that will be fermenting within 24 hours at room temp. I do this in a loosely covered mason jar leaving some headspace for expansion. You may have to rap the fermenter on the counter to knock solids back into the liquid as they will be pushed upwards by the fermentation. Any mold that forms can be scraped/lifted away before packaging- I can assure you that this does not ruin the product.
After 30 days or so in primary I puree again with about half it’s volume of vinegar added. Strain any bulky solids remaining, package and store at room temp forever if desired. It only gets better…
Thanks Euge! That’s exactly the kind of info I was looking for.
Me too although what peppers do you recommend?
I’ve got Hot Banana, Cayenne, Chile, Scotch Bonnet and Thai Bird Chile’s going right now. What do you think about just a blend of everything? I’ve only got 4 plants of each so I doubt I’ll have enough to do one variety only.