Brining before canning
When brining your vegetables beforehand, how long you let your vegetables soak can vary anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. Your recipe provides the details. Here’s what you need to know about these long or short brines:
Long brine: This process is primarily used for making pickles from cucumbers. The veggies stay in the brine anywhere from 5 days to 6 weeks. The brine solution is quite heavy with salt and may contain some vinegar and spices. None of the recipes in this chapter require a long brine.
Short brine: The soaking period for this method is 24 hours or less. Follow your recipe for the correct proportions in your brine solution. You use a short brine for the Sweet Pickle Relish and Zucchini Bread and Butter Pickles.
In both cases, you submerge the food in the brine solution, where it ferments (stays in the solution) for the recommended period of time. (Your recipe gives you the details.) After fermenting, follow your recipe and make a fresh brine solution for filling your jars.
Be sure to keep your food completely submerged in the brine solution, whether it’s for a few hours or longer. To do this, place a sealed, water-filled glass jar on top of your food. The jar applies pressure to keep the foods submerged when you cover your brining container.
Stoneware crocks are excellent choices for brining food. You can find them at specialty cookware stores or where canning supplies are sold. But there’s an important caveat: Don’t use a crock that you’ve gotten from a thrift store or other secondhand store. Without the original packaging, you have no way of knowing whether it’s lead-free and suitable for brining.
Old-time canning recipes may instruct you to “soak your pickles in salt brine strong enough to float an egg.” This equates to a 10-percent brine mixture of 1 pound (about 1 1/2 cups) of salt dissolved in 1 gallon of water.
Adding crunch to your food
The best method for maintaining crispness, crunch, and firmness in your vegetables during the soaking period is to add ice, preferably crushed ice, to your soaking solution. This works best for short brine soaking.
After the soaking period, drain your vegetables in a colander, following your recipe instructions for any rinsing. Some recipes instruct you to roll the drained food in clean kitchen towels to dry it. This works well for larger pieces of food (it isn’t for finely chopped relishes).
Note: In older pickling recipes, you may see the addition of alum or pickling (slaked) lime. The recipes in this chapter don’t add either of these products because they aren’t necessary when you’re using modern canning methods.
For the best tasting pickles, follow these four tips:
Pick produce that is blemish free and pickle your produce within 24 hours of harvesting. Never use vegetables that you have to trim off spoiled or moldy parts.
To ensure that every piece is pickled at the same time, always pack your jars with uniformly sized vegetables.
Scrub the vegetables well to get rid of any dirt, which contains bacteria, and trim 1/8 inch from the blossom and stem ends of cucumbers. These ends may have enzymes that will spoil or soften your pickles.
Pack your jars tightly. Because pickling causes vegetables to shrink slightly, having them tightly filled helps prevent them from floating.
Pickling Equipment and Utensils
In addition to the basic equipment for water-bath canning (refer to Chapter 4), you need nonreactive utensils and equipment for handling, cooking, and brining your food. Nonreactive items are made of stainless steel, nonstick-surfaced items (without a damaged nonstick surface), enamelware, or glass.
Don’t use enamelware with chips or cracks or equipment or utensils made from or containing copper, iron, or brass. These items react with the acids and salt during the pickling process, altering the color of your food and giving the finished product a bad taste. Definitely don’t use galvanized products, which contain zinc. These produce a poison when the acid and the salt touch the zinc, which is transferred to your food causing serious illness (or worse).
Pickled Toppers
Relish is a staple in many kitchens. Use this pickled treat anytime you’d use a relish, on a hamburger or hot dog, in tuna salad, or anytime you want to add flavor to a sandwich.
Sweet Pickle Relish
One advantage of homemade relish is mixing flavors you don’t find in commercially produced relishes. Make more than you believe your family will consume in a year because this relish has a way of disappearing. Try it in homemade Thousand Island dressing.
Preparation time: 55 minutes plus 2 hours soaking time
Processing time: Halp-pints and pints, 10 minutes
Yield: 7 half-pints or 3 pints
5 to 6 medium cucumbers
3 to 4 green and/or red bell peppers
3 to 4 medium onions
1/4 cup kosher or pickling salt
Cold water, about 4 to 6 quarts
3 cups granulated sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons celery seeds
2 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 Peel the cucumbers, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds (see Figure 8-1). Finely chop the cucumbers in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, to measure 6 cups. Remove the stems and seeds from the bell peppers. Finely chop them in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, to measure 3 cups. Remove the skin of the onions. Finely chop them in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, to measure 3 cups.
2 Combine the vegetables in a 5- to 6-quart bowl. Sprinkle them with salt and add cold water to cover them. Cover the bowl; let the veggies stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Rinse the vegetables with running water in batches in a colander. Drain well.
3 Combine the sugar, vinegar, celery seeds, mustard seeds, and turmeric in a 5- to 6-quart pot. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Add the drained vegetables and return the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes or until most of the excess liquid has evaporated.
4 While your relish is cooking, prepare your canning jars and two-piece caps (lids and screw bands) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Keep the jars and lids hot. (For information on preparing your jars, see Chapter 4.)
5 Spoon and lightly compact the hot relish into the prepared jars. Release any air bubbles with a nonreactive utensil (refer to Chapter 3), adding more relish and liquid as necessary to maintain the proper headspace. Wipe the jar rims; seal the jars with the two-piece caps, hand-tightening the bands.
6 Process your filled jars in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes from the point of boiling.
7 Remove the jars from the boiling water with a jar lifter. Place them on a clean kitchen towel away from drafts. After the jars cool completely, test the seals (see Chapter 4). If you find jars that haven’t sealed, refrigerate them and use them within two months.
Tip: This recipe is ready to eat as soon as you’re done precooking it. So save one jar to cool for dinner the night you make it.
Per 2-tablespoon serving: Calories 51 (From fat 1); Fat 0g (Saturated 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 499mg; Carbohydrates 13g (Dietary fiber 0g); Protein 0g.
Figure 8-1: Seeding a cucumber with ease.
Pickled Cucumbers Are Just Pickles
So what’s so important about what kind of cucumber you use for pickles? After all, a cucumber is a cucumber, right? This is definitely not the case. The common salad cucumber has a thick, dark-green, waxy skin. Don’t use this cucumber for making pickles because the brine solution won’t penetrate the waxy coating. Use this cucumber when your recipe doesn’t specify “pickling cucumbers.”
A pickling cucumber is the only cucumber to use for making pickles. The skin of a pickling cucumber is thin, not waxy, and is left on the cucumber. Pickling cucumbers are about 4 inches in length, smaller than salad cucumbers. Don’t eat pickling cucumbers raw; their flavor can be extreme
ly bitter. Some varieties are now sold for both pickling and slicing. These are fine to use. For pickling, use the smaller size of this variety; for slicing, use the larger size. Always look for cucumbers that are recommended for pickling, such as Kirby or Boston Pickling.
Speedy Dill Pickles
This recipe makes an old-fashioned dill pickle in almost the blink of an eye. It’s an excellent confidence-builder for the beginning canner. Try it!
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Processing time: Pints, 10 minutes; quarts, 15 minutes
Yield: 6 pints or 3 quarts
4 pounds pickling cucumbers
6 tablespoons kosher or pickling salt
3 cups distilled white vinegar
3 cups water
1 tablespoon whole mixed pickling spices
18 black peppercorns
3 tablespoons dill seed
Fresh dill springs (optional)
1 Wash your cucumbers. Leave them whole if they’re smaller than 4 inches in diameter. For larger cucumbers, cut them into slices or lengthwise, in halves or quarters.
2 Prepare your canning jars and two-piece caps (lids and screw bands) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Keep the jars and lids hot. (For information on preparing your jars, see Chapter 4.)
3 Combine the salt, water, and vinegar in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Keep the liquid hot over medium heat.
4 Snuggly pack the cucumbers into your prepared jars. To each pint jar, add 1/2 teaspoon of pickling spices, 3 peppercorns, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of dill seed. To each quart jar, add 1 teaspoon of pickling spices, 6 peppercorns, and 1 tablespoon of dill seed. If you’re using fresh dill, add a sprig or two to each pint or quart jar in between the inside edge of the jar and the cucumbers.
5 Ladle the hot liquid into your filled jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace in the pint jars and 1/2-inch headspace in the quart jars. Completely submerge the cucumbers in the liquid. If they protrude from the jar, adjust them until you have the proper headspace, because the lids may not properly seal from the internal pressure. Release any air bubbles with a nonreactive tool (refer to Chapter 3), adding more liquid as necessary to maintain the proper headspace. Wipe the jar rims; seal the jars with the two-piece caps, hand-tightening the bands.
6 Process your filled jars in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes (pints) or 15 minutes (quarts) from the point of boiling.
7 Remove the jars with a jar lifter. Place them on a clean kitchen towel away from drafts. After the jars cool completely, test the seals (see Chapter 4). If you find jars that haven’t sealed, refrigerate and use them within two months.
8 Keep the pickles on the pantry shelf for at least two weeks for the taste to develop.
Vary It! For kosher-style dill pickles, add 2 cloves of peeled, halved garlic to each jar of pickles.
Per 2-ounce serving: Calories 11 (From fat 1); Fat 0g (Saturated 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 1,308mg; Carbohydrates 2g (Dietary fiber 1g); Protein 1g.
Zucchini Bread and Butter Pickles
Wait until you try these tartly sweet pickles. These are the perfect solution to being overrun with zucchini. Pick your vegetables when they are cucumber sized, and use that day for the best texture. Note: These pickles are ready to eat as soon as they cool.
Preparation time: 40 minutes plus 3 hours soaking time
Processing time: 10 minutes
Yield: 12 pints
6 pounds thinly sliced zucchini
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1/2 cup kosher or pickling salt
2 cups sugar
2 quarts ice water
2 quarts distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup whole mustard seed
1/4 cup celery seed
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Peel the onions and cut them in half lengthwise from the tip to the bottom core. Lay them on a cutting board, cut side down; then slice them, starting at the top of the onion, to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
2 Place the zucchini and onion slices in a 12-quart nonreactive stock pot. Sprinkle them with salt. Add ice water to cover the vegetables. Stir them once; then cover the bowl and let the veggies stand at room temperature for 3 hours. Transfer the veggies to a colander and rinse them thoroughly with running water (you may need to do this in more than one batch). Drain well. Roll the pieces in a clean, dry kitchen towel to partially dry them.
3 Prepare your canning jars and two-piece caps (lids and screw bands) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Keep the jars and lids hot. (For information on preparing your jars, see Chapter 4.)
4 In the nonreactive pot, combine the sugar, vinegar, mustard, celery seed, and turmeric. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar and mix the spices. Add the vegetables and return the mixture to a boil.
5 Pack the boiling hot pickles into the prepared jars and add the hot liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Release any air bubbles with a nonreactive tool (refer to Chapter 3), adding more pickles and liquid as necessary to maintain the proper headspace. Wipe the jar rims; seal the jars with the two-piece caps, hand-tightening the bands.
6 Process your filled jars in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes from the point of boiling.
7 Remove the jars with a jar lifter. Place them on a clean kitchen towel away from drafts. After the jars cool completely, test the seals (see Chapter 4). If you find jars that haven’t sealed, refrigerate and use them within two months.
Per 2-ounce serving: Calories 22 (From fat 0); Fat 0g (Saturated 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 116mg; Carbohydrates 6g (Dietary fiber 1g); Protein 0g.
Pickled Vegetables
Pickled vegetables are delicious additions to green salads or a relish plate. Enjoy these treats for a change of pace from plain, raw vegetables. They still retain their crisp texture, but with an extra added bite from the brine.
Avoid long boiling periods for your vinegar solution. Lengthy boiling reduces the acetic-acid level in vinegar, changing the pH level of the food. This change may compromise the safety of your pickled food.
Dilly Beans
Serve these beans in a Bloody Mary in place of a piece of celery. For a variation, use a combination of green and yellow string beans.
Preparation time: 16 minutes
Processing time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 to 5 pints
2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup coarse kosher or pickling salt
2 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, washed, with the ends and strings removed
4 stalks fresh dill, washed and drained
4 cloves garlic, peeled
4 dried whole red chile peppers
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dill seed
1 Prepare your canning jars and two-piece caps (lids and screw bands) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Keep the jars and lids hot. (For information on preparing your jars, see Chapter 4.)
2 Combine the vinegar, water, and salt in a 6- to 8-quart pot. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat; boil for 1 minute, stirring to dissolve the salt. Reduce the heat to low and keep the mixture hot.
3 Pack the beans into the prepared jars (see Figure 8-2), leaving 1/4-inch headspace (trim the tops of the beans, if necessary). Add the following to each jar: a sprig of dill, 1 garlic clove, 1 dried red chile pepper, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon dill seed.
4 Ladle the hot liquid over the beans, leaving 1/4-inch headspace, covering the tops of the beans. Release any air bubbles with a nonreactive tool (refer to Chapter 3), adding more liquid as necessary to maintain the proper headspace. Wipe the jar rims; seal the jars with the two-piece caps, hand-tightening the bands.
5 Process your filled jars in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes from the point of boiling.
6 Remove the jars from the boiling water with
a jar lifter. Place them on a clean kitchen towel away from drafts. After the jars cool completely, test the seals (see Chapter 4). If you find jars that haven’t sealed, refrigerate them and use them within two months.
7 Let the beans sit for two weeks on your pantry shelf for the flavors to fully develop.
Per 1/2-cup serving: Calories 40 (From fat 2); Fat 0g (Saturated 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 167mg; Carbohydrates 10g (Dietary fiber 2g); Protein 1g.
Figure 8-2: Packing raw beans into a jar.
Pickled Asparagus
Asparagus is one of those foods that you either wish for or have too much of. Pickling the young asparagus spears provides a great way to add a new dimension to this early spring vegetable. Put these up in pints, as part of their charm is the look of the straight spears packed like soldiers inside.
Canning and Preserving For Dummies Page 13