The Scientific Pickle

[roguesylph]

Originally published at BlackTabi Blog. You can comment here or there.

Given several weeks of having an extra cucumber or two around, I’ve decided to try my hand at pickle making this week.  I love pickles, and anything else with that salty, briney tang, and I can’t wait to taste these!  Rather than go to the effort to make hot process canned

Comments

[ravenword]

Excellent writeup! That thing in the front doesn't look like a cucumber, though.

Also, I seem to remember from the Alton Brown episode about pickling things that pickling salt is a much finer grind than kosher (to help it dissolve). When using volumetric measurements this could affect the ultimate saltiness of your preparation. I'm sure they're fine, but if you sense a salt balance issue you might want to try doing a conversion for the next batch.

Enjoy pickles!

[roguesylph]

Oooh, thanks for the note about the salt. I didn't see any "pickling salt" between Trader Joe's, Penzey's, and Whole Foods so I figured Kosher was pretty good in general. I'll keep that in mind when I try them!

Matt's right; the other green item is a bell pepper. A few of the recipes called for tossing in some slices of bell pepper, and since we had one lying around I figured I'd throw it in. If nothing else, I bet it's pretty tasty pickled, too!

[laurion]

Kosher salt is actually a larger grain than table salt, which is a larger grain than pickling salt. Pickling salt is usually available at standard grocery stores, so you may have to sink as low as a Stop and Shop to find it. Or you can probably order it online. Salt is a relatively safe consumable to purchase in such a fashion, with its long shelf life, ability to handle all sorts of temperatures and the shakiest of transport mechanisms.

Pickling is another popular method for long term preservations of foods into the winter months. Try tomatoes, eggs, watermelon rinds for variety.

I tend to like my cucumber pickles very sharp and spicy, so would suggest adding things like cloves, red pepper flakes, whole peppercorns of any color, etc.