Pickled: From Curing Lemons to Fermenting Cabbage, the Gourmand's Ultimate Guide to the World of Pickling (6 page)

You’ve followed the instructions, preserved them properly, and still something’s gone wrong. What’s a cook to do when the pickles turn out less than perfect? This list includes common problems and their solutions.

 
Bitter pickles indicate too much vinegar; check the recipe. Note: this can also be caused by using salt substitutes. Any salt or salt substitute other than canning salt has the potential to alter your pickle products, and they should all be avoided, if possible.

 
Cloudy pickles are a warning that your pickles may have spoiled if they were fresh-packed. The introduction of an airborne yeast, the use of metal pans, the addition of table salt, and the use of hard water during production can also have this effect. A spoiled fresh-pack pickle will generally seem slimy or smell funny as well. If there are no other signs of spoilage, you can eat the pickles, though to be safe, you might want to discard any cloudy fresh-pack pickles anyway.

 
Discolored pickles are usually the fault of the pan or hard water, but strong spices can also bleed over into pickles, giving them a different hue. As long as these pickles smell fine and aren’t slimy to the touch, they’re generally okay to eat.

 
Green- or blue-tinted garlic isn’t cause for concern. It just means that the garlic absorbed the metals in your cooking utensils or the garlic you used was young. It’s still perfectly safe to eat.

 
Hollow cucumbers are safe to eat. The cucumber may have been too big or may have been hollow when canning. If a cucumber floats in water, it’s not a good pickling cucumber. The brine may also have been too weak or too strong.

 
Pale coloring may mean your produce was exposed to light or was of poor quality. These are okay to eat, although a poor quality cucumber will make a poor quality pickle. If you are fermenting your pickles and they have a light or dull color, they probably need some additional fermentation time before eating.

 
Dark coloring in the liquid may result from minerals in the water, the use of different vinegar (like malt vinegar), overcooking, or the use of iodized salt in processing. If you notice new dark coloring in a recipe that you’ve made before without the color changing, you may have encountered spoilage. When in doubt, throw it out!

 
Moldy, scummy brine on any pickles except for fermented pickles is a sign that your food has begun to spoil. Throw these pickles out. If you are making fermented pickles, the mold is to be expected, and can be removed as often as needed.

 
Pink pickles may result if you use overly ripe dill in your pickle blend. The introduction of yeast is another possible reason. If the pickles are soft, the liquid cloudy, or the food feels slimy, it’s likely a yeast problem and they should be discarded.

Slimy pickles can be the result of a variety of causes. The amount of salt or vinegar used in the mix may not have been sufficient, the pickles may not have been totally covered by brine, the canning process may not have been followed correctly, yeast may have been introduced, moldy spices may have been used, jars may have been improperly sealed, or the pickles may have been kept in an area that was too hot. These are not safe to eat.

Bland pickles may result from the use of cucumbers that were not meant for pickling. Store-bought cucumbers often have a waxy coating. The brine can’t penetrate this, so your pickles are less flavorful. If you must use this type of cucumber, slice and salt it for about 1 hour, then rise and pickle. This will open the pores, letting the brine in.

Shriveled pickles may mean the vinegar is too strong, the salt concentration too high, or the pickles over-processed. Measure carefully! These aren’t dangerous to eat, but they likely will be unpleasantly acidic. It’s best to throw them out.

Mixed flavors usually mean the size of the vegetables wasn’t even. The larger the cut, the more time a vegetable takes to accept flavor.

Mushy pickles can result from using the wrong type of cucumber or over-processing. If you have a choice of what to buy or grow, look for Lemon, Little Leaf, Saladin, and Edmonson cucumbers. You can use food-grade alum or grape leaves in the bottom of the jar to improve crispness.

Mold or dirt on a jar (unless you’re actively fermenting) often indicates it wasn’t properly sealed; some of the brine has gotten out onto the rim, meaning that bacteria can also get into the jar. Don’t eat these. Whenever you’re confronted with a jar you don’t feel quite right about, it’s usually best to err on the side of caution and throw it out.