Pickled: From Curing Lemons to Fermenting Cabbage, the Gourmand's Ultimate Guide to the World of Pickling (5 page)

BOOK: Pickled: From Curing Lemons to Fermenting Cabbage, the Gourmand's Ultimate Guide to the World of Pickling
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Long-handled jar scrubber

 
Kitchen scale (optional)

 
Jelly bags (optional)

 
Zester, mandolin, melon baller, apple peeler, or cherry pitter (optional)

Only quality Mason jars are safe for canning. As a home chef and DIYer, you probably appreciate thriftiness and enjoy reusing and repurposing, but please, don’t try to save money by reusing commercially bought condiment jars, even if they’re made of glass. Commercial jars like mayonnaise and peanut butter were designed for one-time use only—they may crack or shatter in the middle of your water bath, leaving you with quite a mess to clean up. And, while the old bail-wire jars look pretty and seem like they come from the era of pickling and canning, they’re no longer recommended for the process. Save the antique jars for storage purposes!

Make sure to get canning jars that will fit the amount and size of the pickles you’re planning on making. Canning and pickling jars generally are sold in half-pint, pint, and quart sizes with wide and regular mouths. Wide-mouth jars are convenient for packing such foods as whole tomatoes and peach halves. For the most part, though, you’ll probably be dicing your produce into small, even shapes so that they really get the full effect of your brine. There’s nothing wrong with pickling large items, but remember that it’s often the smallest and most intensely flavored morsels that really make a dish a culinary standout.

Canning Preparation
 

Before you start canning, make sure to read your recipe at least twice and get your ingredients together. Organize the supplies and equipment you’ll need to complete your project. There’s nothing worse than realizing halfway through your project that you’re missing some key piece.

Next, prepare your workspace. You’ll need counter space for preparing your foods as well as space for filling your jars once your pickles are prepped. Before you even consider starting to chop, dice, julienne, or otherwise work on your pickles, take a second to figure out exactly how many jars your recipe calls for. Make sure to examine your jars carefully, checking for cracks or chips. If you have a sterilizing cycle on your dishwasher, put your jars in and run it. Otherwise, use a bottle brush to scrub them inside and out, rinse them in hot water, and sterilize them by boiling them for 10 minutes in a stockpot or water-bath canner. Meanwhile, your lids should be placed in a pan of lightly simmering hot water to kill bacteria and soften the rubber sealing compound. Turn off the simmering water once your lids are in, and let them remain in the hot water while you treat your jars. This step might seem like a pain, but it’s definitely important for safe canning. Run the dishwasher while you’re practicing your knife skills with the pickles, or boil your jars while you’re firing up a vinegar mixture on the other burner. When it’s time to fill the jars, place an old terrycloth bath towel folded in half or two terrycloth kitchen towels on your counter. Never put your jars on an uncovered countertop; it could crack or shatter when you fill a jar with hot food and/or liquid, or the jar itself could crack or shatter. If the jar shatters, you’ve lost your pickles, but if your countertop shatters, you’ve lost your paycheck!

Remember to leave the proper amount of headspace in your jar as you fill it—a general rule is about
1

4
inch for pickles, preserves, and most other water-bath-processed foods. This is just a generalization, however. Recipes that require a different amount of headspace will specify it in the recipe steps. Just be sure not to overfill your containers, since you don’t want fermented liquid seeping out of the jars in your refrigerator!

The last step before processing is removing any air bubbles from the jar. Usually, you can’t actually see the air bubbles, but you can take care of any hidden ones by gently stirring the contents of the jar with a plastic stirrer (a wide, plastic knife works great). Make sure you’ve allowed a moment for the contents to cool slightly before you use any sort of thin plastic that isn’t heatproof. Use a damp kitchen towel to wipe the outer rims. Then put on a lid and screw the band firmly. Make sure you don’t overtighten your screwbands—an overly tight screwband can buckle in the canner. If that happens, you’ll end up with pickles that you can’t store safely—not that it’s always a bad thing to have to eat your pickles in large quantities immediately!

Processing Pickles
 

In a typical water bath, sealed jars are placed on a rack and covered with water that rises 1–2 inches above their tops. Put a lid on your water bath, crank up the heat, and begin timing once the water starts boiling. Most recipes will ask you to process pickles for about 10 minutes to make sure that all of the harmful bacteria has been destroyed. Of course, follow the guidelines in your recipe for the exact times! Once you’ve hit your mark, remove the jars with a jar lifter. Don’t use tongs—you could drop your pickles and either break your jar or splash yourself with boiling water. Then place them on a towel-covered counter to cool for 12–24 hours.

Once the jars are cool enough to touch, take a second to check the seals by pressing your thumb down in the middle of the lid. If the lid seems to give and come back up, the jar isn’t sealed. If you’re not sure, tap the center of the lid with a knife. It should sound like a bell; a muffled sound means the jar isn’t sealed right. What happens if your jar doesn’t seal properly? All is not lost! You have several options here. One is to put your pickles in the refrigerator and use them soon. Whip up a salad of pickled vegetables and a nice, strong goat cheese, or melt some paninis with a healthy dose of pickles to cut through the savory flavor. If that’s not an option for you, you can try reprocessing the jar within 24 hours of the original effort. If you’re going to do this, open the jar, make sure the lid has a clean surface, try changing out the lid, and put everything back in your canner.

After your jars have rested for 12–24 hours, wash them off and move them into the refrigerator, unless the recipe specifically calls for a period of room temperature storage. Fermented pickles will already be soured from their month under brine and can go straight to the refrigerator to slow the fermentation process, but some quick pickles benefit from a few days at room temperature before they are stored—if the recipe does not specify, however, you should refrigerate your canned pickles after processing. Unopened fermented pickles can keep for up to a year under refrigeration after being canned, and most vinegar pickles will last a few months.

It’s also important, when you refrigerate your pickles, to write their creation date on the jar. Writing the date might feel foolish to you, but if you’re making a lot of pickles, you’ll soon start to lose track of what was pickled when. Any restaurant walk-in refrigerator is labeled meticulously, for this same reason. And even with your jars clearly labeled, always check for signs of spoilage. The most obvious sign is the loss of a vacuum seal on the jar and mold growing inside. (Remember, mold is only okay during active fermentation, and even then, it should be on the liquid, not on the pickles.) Other indicators of spoilage include gas bubbles, odd coloring, and foul smells. There is a strong distinction between the acidic tang of a pickle and the terrible odor of spoiled food. Never test suspect food—throw it out!

SAFETY and Troubleshooting
 

At sea level, water boils at 212°F. This is the processing temperature for all high-acid and pickled foods. It is the temperature at which molds, yeasts, and some bacteria are destroyed. By processing canned pickles at this temperature, you ensure that unopened, they’ll stay fresh in your refrigerator for months at a time. Pay close attention to the canning instructions given in this or any canning guide. Extensive instructions on safe home canning can be obtained from County Extension Services or from the USDA (
www.usda.gov
).

All steps of any pickling or canning project should be carried through as rapidly as possible. Follow the slogan, “Two hours from harvest to container.” Work quickly with small amounts of food at a time, since any delay will result in loss of flavor and nutritive value. Additionally, following these simple rules will make your efforts more successful and satisfying:

 
Use prime products; discard any parts with defects.

 
Keep same-sized items together in jars for even processing.

 
Wash hands, tools, and ingredients thoroughly. Be fastidious!

 
Always use a rack on the bottom of your canner to set jars on to avoid breakage and ensure water circulation. Do not use a folded towel; this is not safe.

 
Follow up-to-date recommendations for detailed procedures in canning, available in USDA or Extension publications. Check for updates regularly.

Finally, have fun! While the rules sound like drudgery, they’re really not difficult. With just a little practice you’ll find the preparations and mechanisms come quite naturally—and you’ll have a plethora of wonderful pickles to enjoy.

BOOK: Pickled: From Curing Lemons to Fermenting Cabbage, the Gourmand's Ultimate Guide to the World of Pickling
12.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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