Foodie Friday: Pickling

A few years ago I bought a book titled Pickled Pantry, and took the plunge.  I started making simple half sour dills.  I could probably buy them cheaper, but I enjoy making them, I know exactly what is in them, and I can tweak the spices to my taste. 

Pickling is alchemy, simple ingredients, that are transformed into something amazing.  Our ancestors pickled to preserve the bounty of summer into food that would last into winter.  It is a basic method of food preservation.  While I say these will keep for a few weeks, my grandmother would have packed them in a cool place and used them deep into the winter.  I have one of my grandmother's earthenware pickling crocks, rescued from the cellar of the farmhouse.  Mine never last that long. 

What do you need:

• About 2-pounds of pickling cucumbers.  Any unwaxed cucumber will work, pickling varieties have thinner skins and smaller seeds.  This batch is a unique small variety from one of my favorite organic gardener.  
• 4-cups spring water.  I buy bottled water for this, the chemicals in city water can interfere with the fermentation process that yields the sour flavor. If you use city water, it is a good idea to bring it to a rolling boil, and then let is cool to room temperature.  
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 
• 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Most table salt has additives that will result in a cloudy brine.  Use a salt that has no additives.  Chunkier salts take more to work to dissolve. 
• Dill, I use fresh if I can get it, dried will work.  How much, lots, 
• Optional spices:
• Garlic, two or three cloves, peeled and smashed (place on the board and smash with the flat side of a chef's knife.) 
• Whole black peppercorns, I use 5-10 whole peppercorns
• Crushed red pepper flakes - I use a heaping half-teaspoon. 
• Other spices- what do you like?  
• A two quart glass container
• The lid of a plastic storage container
• A small zip-lock bag.

Method. 

• Mix the water, vinegar and salt to make the pickling brine. 
• Place the dill and other spices in the bottom of a two quart jar (I use two quart or two liter clamp top jars.) 
• Rinse the cucumbers to remove loose dirt. Soaking can remove the wea-beauties that cause lacto-fermentation that build flavor. Rinse and wipe off sand, bits of dirt. 
• Trim the ends of the cucumbers.  The blossom end contains an enzyme that can make the pickles go soft.  I trim both ends.  Pack them in the glass jar. Pack them tightly if you can. 
• Pour the brine over the cucumbers in the jar until almost full to the top. 
• Cut a plastic container lid to form a circle just larger than the jar.  The goal here is to hold the cucumbers under the surface of the brine. Fit it in, add brine to assure the cucumbers are submerged.  
• Put brine in a ziplock plastic bag to form a weight to place on top of the plastic barrier.  
• It is essential that the cucumbers be held under the surface of the brine through the fermentation process.  If one of them floats to the surface mold can form overnight and spoil the batch (I have had this happen twice.)  
• I place this on a stainless steel tray with a lip to catch overflows, as it ferments, and the cucumbers change size and shape, it may overflow a little.  
•  How long it takes for cucumbers to become pickles varies with a lot of things, the size and variety of the cucumbers, room temperature.  I have had it happen in as little as three days, generally it takes 5 to 7 days.  The batch will change color, the brine will develop a sour vinegary smell.  You can sample one to check for the degree of pickle. If you want to speed the second batch, start with a little of the brine from the batch before to jump start the fermentation process.  
• When you are happy with the pickle, remove the zip lock bag, the plastic barrier, top off with brine from the bag, cover and store in the refrigerator.  The pickles will keep 3-6 weeks in the refrigerator.  Mine never last that long.
• Sometimes the brine will get cloudy.  You can mix a fresh brine, and re-jar the pickles with fresh brine.  If the pickles get slimy or start to go squishy, or white or blue mold forms, toss them out.  I have been making these for 4 or 5 years, and I have tossed three batches. 
• These are not processed to be stable at room temperature.  Doing that changes the nature of the pickle, by subjecting them to heat (boiling water or steam.) For me these are a seasonal item, I make them fresh while I can get fresh cucumber from my local farmers market.  
• You can slice or make spears before pickling, it will shorten the pickling cycle.  I prefer to pickle whole cucumbers, then cut them as I use them.  I have made pickle relish from them.