I bought a big gallon-sized jar of pickled vegetables at the
Mediterranean market around Christmas: cukes, 5 types of peppers, 2
types of green tomatoes, cauliflower, baby corn, and maybe some
other stuff I haven't discovered yet. I get on these "pickled
kicks" fairly often. And the gallon sized jar looked really good
that day.

They're too soft and mushy, except for the tomatoes, which are my
least favorite. Is there any way to crisp them back up? Would
Pickle Crisp or alum work after the fact?

If not, what's a good use for these - puvlerize and use as a
sandwich spread? It would only be $7.69 down the drain.

-sw

In article >,
Sqwertz > wrote:

> I bought a big gallon-sized jar of pickled vegetables at the
> Mediterranean market around Christmas: cukes, 5 types of peppers, 2
> types of green tomatoes, cauliflower, baby corn, and maybe some
> other stuff I haven't discovered yet. I get on these "pickled
> kicks" fairly often. And the gallon sized jar looked really good
> that day.
>
> They're too soft and mushy, except for the tomatoes, which are my
> least favorite. Is there any way to crisp them back up? Would
> Pickle Crisp or alum work after the fact?
>
> If not, what's a good use for these - puvlerize and use as a
> sandwich spread? It would only be $7.69 down the drain.
>
> -sw

Good question; I've never heard of using a crisping agent like the ones
you mention after the fact. Sandwich spread doesn't sound bad. Or
drain them, reduce (some of) the syrup they were packed in, chop or
grind the vegetables and recombine with the (hopefully) thickened syrup
to use as a relish. I'd probaably pick out the corn before grinding,
but YMMV.

A gallon is a lot.

--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller
Gumbo 3-11-2010

On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:36:56 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>> They're too soft and mushy, except for the tomatoes, which are my
>> least favorite. Is there any way to crisp them back up? Would
>> Pickle Crisp or alum work after the fact?
>
>I don't know if this would work, but soaking in
>pure water might help. Pickled vegetables have
>a lot of salt, and the water should tend to be
>drawn into the vegetables to dilute that salt.
>That might make them crispier.

Save the gallon jar and next time pickle ones own veggies, to whatever
degree and flavor one wants... will be a much better product and will
probably cost less too because much of the price of store bought is
in that jar.

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> They're too soft and mushy, except for the tomatoes, which are my
> least favorite. Is there any way to crisp them back up? Would
> Pickle Crisp or alum work after the fact?

I don't know if this would work, but soaking in
pure water might help. Pickled vegetables have
a lot of salt, and the water should tend to be
drawn into the vegetables to dilute that salt.
That might make them crispier.

Barb wrote:

>> I bought a big gallon-sized jar of pickled vegetables at the
>> Mediterranean market around Christmas: cukes, 5 types of peppers, 2
>> types of green tomatoes, cauliflower, baby corn, and maybe some
>> other stuff I haven't discovered yet. I get on these "pickled
>> kicks" fairly often. And the gallon sized jar looked really good
>> that day.
>>
>> They're too soft and mushy, except for the tomatoes, which are my
>> least favorite. Is there any way to crisp them back up? Would
>> Pickle Crisp or alum work after the fact?
>>
>> If not, what's a good use for these - puvlerize and use as a
>> sandwich spread? It would only be $7.69 down the drain.
>>
>
> Good question; I've never heard of using a crisping agent like the ones
> you mention after the fact. Sandwich spread doesn't sound bad. Or
> drain them, reduce (some of) the syrup they were packed in, chop or
> grind the vegetables and recombine with the (hopefully) thickened syrup
> to use as a relish. I'd probaably pick out the corn before grinding,
> but YMMV.
>
> A gallon is a lot.

For some reason I never got the original post in this thread. My usual use
for pickled vegetables is as a component of enchilada sauce, as discussed in
"Taqueria Tech". (You'd have to Google for Taqueria Tech; it seems to jump
around a bit on the net. I copied the whole site and pasted it into a text
document years ago, but I don't have space to host it myself.)

Bob

On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:56:30 -0500, Melba's Jammin' wrote:

> Good question; I've never heard of using a crisping agent like the ones
> you mention after the fact. Sandwich spread doesn't sound bad. Or
> drain them, reduce (some of) the syrup they were packed in, chop or
> grind the vegetables and recombine with the (hopefully) thickened syrup
> to use as a relish. I'd probaably pick out the corn before grinding,
> but YMMV.

I'm going to make some sort of hot relish out of it, I think. I buy
large cans of pickled jalapenos (a quart for $.75) just for their
juice so I've always got some pickled jalapenos going to waste.

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:56:30 -0500, Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>
> > Good question; I've never heard of using a crisping agent like the ones
> > you mention after the fact. Sandwich spread doesn't sound bad. Or
> > drain them, reduce (some of) the syrup they were packed in, chop or
> > grind the vegetables and recombine with the (hopefully) thickened syrup
> > to use as a relish. I'd probaably pick out the corn before grinding,
> > but YMMV.
>
> I'm going to make some sort of hot relish out of it, I think. I buy
> large cans of pickled jalapenos (a quart for $.75) just for their
> juice so I've always got some pickled jalapenos going to waste.
>
> -sw

That's probably your best option. Don't think alum works after the fact.
Nothing wrong with lots of relish.

George Shirley wrote:
>
> Arri London wrote:
> >
> > Sqwertz wrote:
> >> On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:56:30 -0500, Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> >>
> >>> Good question; I've never heard of using a crisping agent like the ones
> >>> you mention after the fact. Sandwich spread doesn't sound bad. Or
> >>> drain them, reduce (some of) the syrup they were packed in, chop or
> >>> grind the vegetables and recombine with the (hopefully) thickened syrup
> >>> to use as a relish. I'd probaably pick out the corn before grinding,
> >>> but YMMV.
> >> I'm going to make some sort of hot relish out of it, I think. I buy
> >> large cans of pickled jalapenos (a quart for $.75) just for their
> >> juice so I've always got some pickled jalapenos going to waste.
> >>
> >> -sw
> >
> > That's probably your best option. Don't think alum works after the fact.
> > Nothing wrong with lots of relish.
>
> The best crisping agent that is safe is calcium chloride. Look in the
> canning section of your local supermarket or hardware store for Ball
> brand "Pickle Crisp." Works very well.

It works on already pickled foods? It's used prior to pickling, not
afterwards.

>
> Alternatively you can also find it at your local brew hut, beer brewers
> use it.
>
> Alum, to me, leaves a bitter taste and is not really recommended by the
> gurus of pickling. If you have a grape vine a couple of leaves placed in
> the bottom of the jar will also help with crispness.

But not after the fact.