Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pickling

Canning season is here - we need advice on how to keep our pickled veggies crunchy!

pghjezebel — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:31:19 -0800

Canning season is here - we need advice on how to keep our pickled veggies crunchy! Mom and I are gearing up for our yearly canning weekend. Last years batch was a huge success (taste-wise) but our veggies weren't as crunchy as we would have liked them to be.

What tips can you give us on making our veggies as crunchy as possible? (And any tried and true recipes that you love are welcome as well - the stronger the kick the better!)

We're going to be doing:
Cauliflower, celery and carrots
Garlicky dilly beans
Pickles (if we have the time)

Wood for pickling lids?

GeneticFreek — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:41:13 -0800

What woods can be use to make lids for pickling? I want to start doing some wild fermentation pickling in pickling crocks. You can buy online special wooden lids with holes in them to hold the food to be pickled down while allowing the brine to come up. See HERE. These are claimed to be made out of Poplar. Rather than ordering the lids online I figure I could make some myself, but a search at my local Home Depot and Rona don't carry poplar in the appropriate size.

My question is is there anything special about poplar that I need that wood in particular? Are other woods okay? Spruce is readily available. Oak could possibly be gotten in the right size as well. What factors are important? I figure that A) it needs to be kiln-dried chemical free, B) needs to be a wood that isn't toxic (ie not hemlock?), C) and of a thickness, say 1/2", so that it wouldn't warp.

I'll be checking out another store that I think carries a larger variety of wood on Wednesday. Any advice before then is appreciated!

Salty, salty lemons

TungstenChef — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:24:40 -0800

Should preserved lemons look like this? I made preserved lemons for the first time and I'm worried about them. I tossed them with salt, packed them in jars, added lemon juice, capped the jars, and let them set on the counter for 3 days before refrigerating for a week. I opened a jar up and some gas escaped, so I looked at the 2nd jar and saw that the top was bulging. Also, the lemon juice was thicker and it felt possibly a bit slimy between my fingers. This made me immediately think bacterial growth, but I've never made preserved lemons before so I wanted to check if this is normal or not.

Picklers of the world unite!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:28:26 -0800

What's your favourite pickle recipe, and why? And what advice can you offer to a novice pickler? I've embarked on a cautious foray into the world of DIY pickles. So far I've mostly limited myself to trying to replicate the ones I grew up with, i.e. Dutch-style gherkins and onions. They're nice, sure, but not very imaginative.

So in the interest of adventure, let's hear it! What's your favourite pickle? And if you know how it's made or if you've made it yourself, please share! I know I'm not alone in my pickle frenzy, so let's not be coy about these things, shall we.

Some personal quirks:
-I like pickled vegetables. Fruit... not so much. Previous successes include gherkins/cucumbers, onions, carrots, sweet peppers, and celery. I'm very open to pickling other vegetables.
-I really, really like strong tastes. Anyone remember boo_radley's story in MeTa a while ago? That's me. Basically, the pickles I've made so far have come straight from hell. This does not please everyone, however, and they don't have to be super hot or sour or garlicky or anything. But I do like strong flavours. More specifically, I'm looking to add some meat to my pickles, or say a darker / more umami flavour.
-Most of what I've made and/or read about concerns European- and American-style pickles. I'd be interested to hear about other varieties, such as those from our Asian cousins.
-Relishes to relish! Let's not forget about these pulpier, more spreadable citizens of Pickleland (which I'm pretty sure actually exists).
-I'm also interested in advice a pickle master would give to a novice, such as "cold infusions are for total wusses" or "the amount of mustard seeds should never exceed the square root of the amount of coriander seeds". Of course, I'm totally making these up, but I'm sure you catch my drift.

Then again, feel free to ignore the above, as certainly your suggestion will benefit someone.

Thanks in advance, fellow pickle freaks, and stay sour!

What is this elusive dill pickle recipe?

rabinowitz — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:38:41 -0800

What is this elusive dill pickle recipe? I made a ton of really fabulous dill pickles last fall with a recipe I found online, but I forgot to save the recipe. Now I can't for the life of me find it. I vividly remember the ingredients and process. Does anybody know this recipe?

I packed jars with cucumbers, fresh dill, a clove of garlic, and several black peppercorns, then poured a room temperature (not boiling) vinegar/salt/water solution (of forgotten proportions) over the top. Then I sterilized the jars for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

All of the recipes I've found involve boiling the vinegar solution. Is it even safe to make pickles with room temperature vinegar solution?

Why has my garlic gone blue?

patricio — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:56:14 -0800

Pickling garlic has turned it blue - will it be toxic? A friend recently decided to pickle a huge amount of garlic. She put the cloves in clean jars with fresh chopped red chilles and used distilled malt vinegar with a small amount of white wine vinegar. Everything was fine for about a week, then the cloves of garlic started turning blue. They are now a very bright blue (copper sulphate solution coloured). Has anyone had this happen to them and do you know what might be causing the blue colour to appear? Is the garlic likely to be toxic?

Spill your beans and save my stomach!

numinous — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:01:33 -0800

What is the "shelf-life" of my homemade mixed-bean salad? Ingredients, recipes, and other curiosities follow, so please check out I have drained, rinsed, and submerged:

1 can of kidney beans
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 can of cannellini beans
1 can of pinto beans, and
1 can of black-eyed peas

in enough white-balsamic vinegar that the entire bean-salad is covered. I am keeping the mix in a plastic container (specifically: Ikea tupperware in my refrigerator.

My question is: How quickly will this bean-salad spoil? What is the “shelf-life” of it, so to speak? Is it good indefinitely (as it is submerged in vinegar and refrigerated), or is there a specific time-frame during which it is edible, and then must be promptly thrown away lest I suffer the wrath of the gastronomic gods?

If there is a time limit, is it a week? two weeks? a month?

After enduring numerous bouts of stomach-related sickness, I am ever the one to err on the side of caution; however, I don’t want to be wasteful, so I’d like to avoid throwing this delicious mix out prematurely. Suggestions?

I thank you on my belly’s behalf.

Where can i buy preserved lemons?

rorycberger — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:26:23 -0800

Where can I buy preserved lemon in the SF Bay Area? I know, I know, I should make my own, but I need it tomorrow so I can't wait for it to cure. Thanks in advance.

How do I easily pickle vegetables?

houseofdanie — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 11:06:58 -0800

My son and I got to talking about pickles the other day and how various vegetables can be pickled. We ended up at Penzey’s (we’re so lucky to have a store down the street!) and I got their pickling spice blend. We have some baby zucchini and carrots. Now… what the heck do I do? I Googled around a bit and found a bunch of stuff that requires special equipment. I’m very confused. The spice mixture includes yellow and brown Canadian mustard seeds, Jamaican allspice, cracked China cassia, cracked Turkish bay leaves, dill seed, Zanzibar cloves, cracked China ginger, Tellicherry peppercorns, star anise, Moroccan coriander, juniper berries, West Indies mace, cardamom and medium hot crushed red peppers.

Zucchini Galore!

archimago — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 06:55:57 -0800

Squashfilter: I am on the verge of harvesting a LOT of zucchini from my garden. Is it possible to pickle it and preserve it in some way? Anyone have any good recipes? When I say a LOT, I mean more than we could possibly give away and eat before going bad. I'm already planning on making some bread out of it, and I've heard that you can also blanche it and freeze it, but I'm now investigating ways to preserve it in jars.