Ok...so yesterday we had a small crisis. I had about 5-6 lbs of Kirby
cukes that were screaming "Pickle me, please." I haven't the
preserving talents of some of the wonderful posters around here, so
all I wanted to do was make a little batch of fermented garlic dills.

Should this have been easy? Yes. Should this have taken more than half
an hour? No.

I had no vinegar in the cupboard. I had no pickling spices in the
cupboard. I had no fine, non-iodized salt. A trip to the store was
organized. The Hub drives off into the evening, as I retrieve the
large glass crock from the dishwasher.

Oops...I have more pickles than space in the glass crock. I go
a-hunting in the basement for a larger vessel. This is accomplished
quickly. I consider it a minor miracle.

The Hub returns from the store with enough vinegar to run a small lab.
And TWO bottles of pickling spices.

The dill gets picked, the garlic gets dug out of the dirt, the blossom
ends of the cukes get circumcised. The brew is mixed, the crock
layered with garden goodies and ladled with the brine....

Then comes the search for a perfect weighting plate...small enough to
bet into the crock, but large enough to submerge the cukes. My
Thanksgiving cranberry dish is perfect. (gevalt!)

Off we go to deposit the crock in the basement, only to look at the
temp down there and see that it is hovering around 80 degrees at
almost 9 at night. Uh-oh. Too hot. We take a picnic cooler, insert the
crock and 1 blue ice block into it. Perfect at 70 degrees an hour
later. We'll put in a fresh blue ice thing each day when it is needed.

Instead of 30 minutes, it all took about 2 hours. These suckers better
be good when they're done, that's all I'm saying.

OH, and about the fresh garlic....we have a ton of it growing this
year. We harvested and took great delight in the scapes, sauteing them
in olive oil, and sprinkling them with a tad of sea salt and a dash of
balsamic vinegar. We now have begun digging the heads of garlic and
have discovered that the hot thing in all the farmer's markets is
"fresh" garlic - that is, freshly dug and not allowed to hang and dry.
I used that in the with the pickles, because I had none dried yet. We
shall see.....


Boron

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:13:33 -0400, Boron Elgar
> wrote:

Sorry for the typo in the subject header...that should be "Brine", not
"bine.

Boron

Boron Elgar said...

> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:13:33 -0400, Boron Elgar
> > wrote:
>
> Sorry for the typo in the subject header...that should be "Brine", not
> "bine.
>
> Boron


"that should be" <-- "that should've been." WE can't fix it!!! Do we LOOK
like editors?

Andy

In article >,
Boron Elgar > wrote:

> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:13:33 -0400, Boron Elgar
> > wrote:
>
> Sorry for the typo in the subject header...that should be "Brine", not
> "bine.
>
> Boron

You had me wondering, next week being the anniversary of the first moon
landing and all . . . . :-)
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com - story and
pics of Ronald McDonald House dinner posted 6-24-2007

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:07:27 GMT, Steve Wertz
> wrote:

>On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:13:33 -0400, Boron Elgar wrote:
>

>You don't store vinegared pickles at room temp to ferment.
>Unless you've processed them for canning, in which case they're
>not going to ferment.

The brine ingredients are listed below. The pickles will be
refrigerated once they are "done."

There are many similar recipes online, with the same proportions of
ingredients.

>What kind of pickles are you making exactly?
>
>-sw



http://uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_06/dill_pickles.html
Dill Pickles

Use the following quantities for each gallon capacity of your
container.

* 4 lbs of 4-inch pickling cucumbers
* 2 tbsp dill seed or 4 to 5 heads fresh or dry dill weed
* 1/2 cup salt
* 1/4 cup vinegar (5 percent)
* 8 cups water and one or more of the following ingredients:
o 2 cloves garlic (optional)
o 2 dried red peppers (optional)
o 2 tsp whole mixed pickling spices (optional)

Procedu Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and
discard. Leave 1/4-inch of stem attached. Place half of dill and
spices on bottom of a clean, suitable container. For more information
on containers see "Suitable Containers, Covers, and Weights for
Fermenting Food," . Add cucumbers, remaining dill, and spices.
Dissolve salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers. Add
suitable cover and weight. Store where temperature is between 70ºF and
75ºF for about 3 to 4 weeks while fermenting. Temperatures of 55º to
65ºF are acceptable, but the fermentation will take 5 to 6 weeks.
Avoid temperatures above 80ºF, or pickles will become too soft during
fermentation. Fermenting pickles cure slowly. Check the container
several times a week and promptly remove surface scum or mold.
Caution: If the pickles become soft, slimy, or develop a disagreeable
odor, discard them. Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the
original container for about 4 to 6 months, provided they are
refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly.

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:16:28 -0500, Melba's Jammin'
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Boron Elgar > wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:13:33 -0400, Boron Elgar
>> > wrote:
>>
>> Sorry for the typo in the subject header...that should be "Brine", not
>> "bine.
>>
>> Boron
>
>You had me wondering, next week being the anniversary of the first moon
>landing and all . . . . :-)


I'll save you a pickle. You can pin it on your hat!

Boron

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:10:21 -0500, Steve Wertz
> wrote:

>On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:33:53 -0400, Boron Elgar wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:07:27 GMT, Steve Wertz
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:13:33 -0400, Boron Elgar wrote:
>>
>>>You don't store vinegared pickles at room temp to ferment.
>>>Unless you've processed them for canning, in which case they're
>>>not going to ferment.
>>
>> The brine ingredients are listed below. The pickles will be
>> refrigerated once they are "done."
>>
>> There are many similar recipes online, with the same proportions of
>> ingredients.
>>
>>>What kind of pickles are you making exactly?
>>
>>
>> http://uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_06/dill_pickles.html
>> Dill Pickles
>>
>> Use the following quantities for each gallon capacity of your
>> container.
>>
>> * 4 lbs of 4-inch pickling cucumbers
>> * 2 tbsp dill seed or 4 to 5 heads fresh or dry dill weed
>> * 1/2 cup salt
>> * 1/4 cup vinegar (5 percent)
>> * 8 cups water and one or more of the following ingredients:
>
>Hmm, OK. I assumed you were making vinegar pickles. 1/4cup
>isn't that much for 8 cups of water. I guess the little bit of
>vinegar is a safety precaution of sorts.
>
>When I do pickles I just use salt, water and garlic.
>
>-sw


The only time I get involved with a hot water bath is in the tub with
a good dose of bubbles.

Boron

In article >,
says...
> I had no vinegar in the cupboard. I had no pickling spices in the
> cupboard. I had no fine, non-iodized salt. A trip to the store was
> organized. The Hub drives off into the evening, as I retrieve the
> large glass crock from the dishwasher.
>

Vinegar? You do not need vinegar to make fermented pickles.

All you need is cukes, salt, garlic, and dill. For variety you can add
one or more of peppercorns, whole coriander seeds, dried hot red peppers
- I am sure there are other good possibilities. Check out the recipe in
Mark Bittman's "The Way to Cook Everything" - it has never failed me.


--
Peter Aitken

Melba's Jammin' > wrote in news:barbschaller-
:

> You had me wondering, next week being the anniversary of the first moon
> landing and all . . . . :-)
>

So how do you brine an astronaut?........Carefully

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:11:36 -0400, Peter A >
wrote:

>In article >,
says...
>> I had no vinegar in the cupboard. I had no pickling spices in the
>> cupboard. I had no fine, non-iodized salt. A trip to the store was
>> organized. The Hub drives off into the evening, as I retrieve the
>> large glass crock from the dishwasher.
>>
>
>Vinegar? You do not need vinegar to make fermented pickles.
>
>All you need is cukes, salt, garlic, and dill. For variety you can add
>one or more of peppercorns, whole coriander seeds, dried hot red peppers
>- I am sure there are other good possibilities. Check out the recipe in
>Mark Bittman's "The Way to Cook Everything" - it has never failed me.


I have no problem whatsoever with the recipe I use, and it calls for a
small amount of vinegar. I add a lot of dill, several garlic cloves
and some pickling spice.

There are only about a gazillion variation online.

Boron

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:46:36 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:

>Boron Elgar > dropped this turd
: in rec.food.cooking
>
>> Ok...so yesterday we had a small crisis. I had about 5-6 lbs of Kirby
>> cukes that were screaming "Pickle me, please." I haven't the
>> preserving talents of some of the wonderful posters around here, so
>> all I wanted to do was make a little batch of fermented garlic dills.
>
><great story snipped for space>
>
>You have me salivating. I'm trying to get up enough nerve to make some
>sour pickles. When some of the mess around here gets finished I'll get
>back into the cooking swing of things.
>
>Good luck with the pickles. I'm sure they will be delish.
>
>Michael


Thank you. It's really all Barb's fault, anyway...I asked her about
pickles at some point in the past.

Boron

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:55:43 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:

>Boron Elgar > dropped this turd
: in rec.food.cooking
>
>> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:46:36 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
>> > wrote:

>>>
>>>Good luck with the pickles. I'm sure they will be delish.
>>>
>>>Michael
>>
>>
>> Thank you. It's really all Barb's fault, anyway...I asked her about
>> pickles at some point in the past.
>>
>> Boron
>
>*sigh* I know, I know. I asked her about pressure cookers in email and
>now I'm pricing them. Barb has that effect on people
>
>Michael

Look at all she does for the economy! NO wonder the stock market is
doing so well.

Boron