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Preserving the Perfect Pickle

Dills, Sweets, Kraut, Relishes and Other Foods. Preserving the Perfect Pickle. Overview. Types of pickled products The process Ingredients Equipment. Pickled Products. Brined or fermented pickles Cured in brine (salt and water) solution for one or more weeks

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Preserving the Perfect Pickle

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  1. Dills, Sweets, Kraut, Relishes and Other Foods Preserving the Perfect Pickle

  2. Overview • Types of pickled products • The process • Ingredients • Equipment

  3. Pickled Products • Brined or fermented pickles • Cured in brine (salt and water) solution for one or more weeks • Either produce an acid or you add an acid • Fresh pack or quick process pickles • Sometimes brined for a few hours • Covered with boiling hot vinegar, spices and seasonings (adding an acid)

  4. Other Pickles • Fruit pickles • Whole or sliced fruits • Simmered in a spicy, sweet-sour syrup made with vinegar or lemon juice • Relishes • Chopped fruits and vegetables • Cooked in a spicy vinegar solution

  5. What kind of pickles did Aunt Bee make? • Use a brine that is less heavy • Add extra sprig of parsley or two steeped in the vinegar • Use younger cucumbers • Drain them more • Use fresher spices • Boil the vinegar two seconds more Fresh pack or quick process

  6. What Makes a Pickle a Pickle? • Form an acid • Brined • Fermented • Produces “lactic acid” • Acid is added • Vinegar • Lemon Juice

  7. Why Add Acid? • Do not need to be pressure canned if they have a pH of 4.6 or lower • A pH of 4.6 or less will not support growth of Clostridium botulinum Source: National Center for Home Food Preservation

  8. Why Process in Water Bath? • Kills spoilage organisms • Yeasts • Molds • Bacteria • Controls enzyme activity • Flavor • Color • Texture Source: USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

  9. Ingredients in Pickling • Produce • Salt • Vinegar • Sugar • Spices • Water • Firming agents

  10. Produce • Tender vegetables and firm fruit, selected by size • Pickling cucumbers (not “table” or “slicing”), unwaxed • Pickle within 24 hours after picking for best quality • Wash well • Discard produce with mold

  11. Salt • Pure granulated salt • “pickling” salt • “canning” salt • No anti-caking materials • Do not alter salt concentrations • Do not reduce salt in a recipe unless it is in a tested recipe using less salt—salt is a preservative

  12. Vinegar • Preservative • Cider or white vinegar • Cider vinegar can discolor light produce • White distilled for onions, cauliflower and pears • 5% acidity • Use amount stated in recipe

  13. Sugar • White sugar unless recipe states brown • Sugar substitutes • Can develop off-flavor or bitterness • Can lose sweetening properties • Follow tested recipes specific to the type of sugar substitute

  14. Spices • Use fresh whole spices for best quality and flavor • Powdered spices can make pickles dark and cloudy • Tie whole spices in a clean white cloth or cheesecloth bag, removebefore packing jars

  15. Water • Drinking quality or “potable” • Soft water is preferred • Iron: discoloration • Calcium: shriveling • Boil hard water for 15 minutes and let stand, covered, for 24 hours

  16. Firming Agents • Not needed when • Good quality ingredients are used • Up-to-date methods are used • Soak cucumbers in ice water for 4 to 5 hours • Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end

  17. Blossom End of a Cucumber Blossom End Stem End

  18. Lime • Calcium in lime does improve firmness • Use food grade pickling lime (not agricultural or burnt lime) • Soak cucumbers in lime-water solution 12 to 24 hours before pickling • Excess lime absorbed by the cucumbers must be removed to make safe pickles Do not inhale dust

  19. To Remove Excess Lime • Drain lime-water solution • Rinse • Re-soak in fresh water 1 hour • Repeat rinsing and soaking two more times • Failure to remove lime adequately may increase the risk for botulism

  20. Alum • Aluminum potassium sulfate • Can be safely used, but not recommended • Used for fermented pickles, does not work for quick process • Powdered form found in spice section of grocery stores

  21. Food Scales • Recipe specifies ingredients by weight • Important for pickledproducts

  22. Pans • Heat liquids in • Stainless steel • Aluminum • Glass • Unchipped enamelware • Do not use • Copper • Brass • Galvanized or iron utensils

  23. Fermenting and Brining • Small quantities: crock or stone jar, unchipped enamelware, large glass jar or bowl • Large quantities: enamel, glass or paraffin-lined keg or barrel • Cover for container • An undersized lid to hold food below surface of brine • Food-grade plastic bag • When using lime, do not soak in an aluminum container

  24. Process in Water-Bath Canner

  25. Pickle Principles • Do not alter vinegar, food, or water proportions in a recipe or use a vinegar with unknown acidity. • Use only recipes with tested proportions of ingredients. • There must be a minimum, uniform level of acid throughout the mixed product to prevent the growth of C. botulinumbacteria.

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