pickles

[Pixie]

ok, i bought the cucumbers.

 

the recipe i have sais that i have to soak them in brine. what IS brine?

 

the recipe sais to add 2 table spoons of pickleing spice. what is IN pickleing spice? i have tons of spices, what do i use? i just want dill pickles!

 

the recipe sais to soak them in a pickleing container. what IS a pickleing container, and if i dont have one, what can i use in its stead?

 

the ball blue book is not clear on everything. (and i am sure i will end up with more questions later)

[Safety Lady 2]

I put my pickles in a 5 gallon food grade bucket with water and vinegar with salt. Pickling spices are cloves, pepper corns, mustard seed, and several other things. I put 5 big dill springs and covered the whole thing with brine and placed a plate on top to keep all under the brine. It is almost time to process mine. I will find you the recipe if you want. Also put whole garlic and jalapeno pepper in the bucket.

[PoGo]

Hi Pixie!

Brine is a very salty, vinegar water.

For 10 pounds of cucumbers you would need 1 1/2 cups of canning salt, 2 cups vinegar and 2 gallons of water.

 

Pickling spice is a mixture of spices.

The ingrediants are: CINNAMON, ALLSPICE, MUSTARD SEED, CORIANDER, BAY LEAVES, GINGER, CHILIES, CLOVES, BLACK PEPPER, MACE, AND CARDAMOM.

 

A pickling container is usually a very large crock.

I suppose you could use a sturdy plastic, food safe bucket.

[Pixie]

i have no way of weighing my pickles. i dont even have a bathroom scale, or any sort of scale. how would i know how much to use?

 

i have dried dill. a whole large jar of it. how much is a "sprig" or a "head" of dill?

 

there is no dill in pickling spice? so for dill pickles i would just add dill? would changing the recipe change the boiling time?

[PoGo]

I suppose when you find your bucket that you're going to use, you could put all the cucumbers in it, cover them with water then pour the water out and measure it to see how many cups of liquid it needed to cover the cucumbers.

As for Dill, I think a "head" is considered to be the stem with the blooming part that's on top of it.

No, there is no dill in pickling spice. Some people make dill pickles without the pickling spice. Some use just dill, garlic, peppercorns etc.

In my opinion, changing the spices won't change your boiling time.

[Pixie]

how long do they need to soak?

 

 

so, to make the brine, i put 1 cup pickleing salt in 2 quarts of water...then the next day add 1 cup of salt for each 5 pounds of cucumbers...(this is what is says in theball blue book) so i still have to know how much they weigh.

 

 

what about fresh packed pickles?

 

 

acan i just make a bunch of the vinegar/salt/water/spice stuff and just use what i need and can the rest for later....or can some onions or something else with whatever is left?

 

by the time i figure this out, all the cucumbers will have gone bad! heh heh

 

do you have to use pickleing cucumbers to make pickles? could i just buy the big ones and cut them up?

[Jewlzm]

I didnt soak mine. I coldpacked into heated jars added the vinegar and pickling spice mixture (which was hot) and BBC.

[Pixie]

i thought that you were not suppossed to put the spices in when you can them?

 

i mean, take the spices out when you can them...

[Cat]

Awww, Pixie, ya really need a recipe.

[Pixie]

the one link i am looking at, sais not to use a metal pot. i dont have anything BUT meatl pots.

[Pixie]

well, it took me sooo [censored] long to figure this pickle thing out, (and i am not quite sure i have) that my pickles are now over-ripe according to one of your links. io guess pickles will have to wait till next year.

 

 

what can i do with fat chubby pickleing cucumbers? i just had a look at them, some are so big i cant fit more than 2 or 3 in a jar.

[Pixie]

here is what my cucumbers look like.

 

(see attched)

108376-Image027.jpg

[Nana]

Pixie, slice them up, put them in a jar; add dill, garlic, salt, coriander seed, and a couple of cloves to some heated distilled vinegar, let it simmer for a few minutes and pour it over your cuke slices. Put them in the fridge. Just eat them up as fast as possible, after about 48 hours.

 

Oh, and on the spices & herbs? Add what you think looks and smells good. Those are your pickles, add what you want.

[Cat]

You could try this, too...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

FROZEN CUCUMBER SALAD

 

2 qts sliced cucumbers

1 med. onion, sliced into rings

1 tsp salt

1 c sugar

1/2 c cider vinegar

 

Mix cucumbers, onion, and salt; let stand 2 hours, drain well.

 

Heat sugar and vinegar until sugar dissolves. Cool; add to cucumbers. Stir well, put into freezer containers. Makes 3 pints.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

[Granny]

Hi Pixie! Sorry I didn't read this before running across you in chat. Grind up those cucumbers and make relish. Very tasty. Can do the same with bigger zuchinni. Makes a sweet type relish good on sandwiches, hot dogs, or whatever. Will have to get some onions and spices for recipe. If you don't have one I'll try to find mine and post.

[Necie]

bump

[Amishway Homesteaders]

mmmmmmmmmmm

more pickle recipes to try

[westbrook]

here is the other pickle thread..

 

http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...ge=0#Post128542

 

maybe darlene can combine these.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

need to grow more cucks this year with all these good recipes coming back.

 

[westbrook]

I still have a couple of weeks before I can plant cukes!

 

I am still looking for a pickle recipe... sour pickles! the ones you find at the fair or sitting on top of a counter in a crock. Also found in the refrigerator section indivivually packaged.

 

the really really sour ones. My kidlets favorite.