Quick Pickling Recipies - anyone have one the really like. Tips are also appreciated.

[dballance]

I'm going to a friend's place for t-giving and want to make a relish tray. I thought it might fun to quick pickle the veggies rather than just buy a bunch of jars and only open lids. I want to put out a little more effort than that.

I found several by Googling. Most of make the pickling brine with equal parts of water and apple cider vinegar. I always love our fresh cucumbers from the garden soaked in vinegar.

Any tips and cautions are also appreciated.

ON EDIT: I do know to remove the seeds and guts of the jalapenos so the veggies won't get too hot.

[uppityperson]

1. Cut up veggies to serving size pieces, blanch, put warm in a container with vinegar, salt, spices,

water.

Let it sit for a while. Put in frig. Eat.

I've done a variation of this for many years, simple and good. I've used most kinds of veggies (beans, cukes, broc, caulifl, peppers) and either pickling spice or whatever I have around (salt, pepper, dill, whatever I can find).

Blanch to slightly cook and warm, soak in liquid.

http://www.moosewoodcooks.com/2011/07/pickles-for-ann/
Quick Cucumber Pickle
Author: Moosewood Collective
Recipe type: Accompaniment

These delicious pickles are a snap to throw together, and the flavor improves if you let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. We use English cucumbers for this recipe: They are available in markets almost year-round and are fresh-tasting, thin-skinned, and seedless—good character traits for making yummy pickles. If you have kirby cucumbers in your garden, they will also work wonderfully. Just pick enough to make 8 cups of sliced cucumbers. Be careful to slice off and discard the blossom end of the cucumbers; they can make pickles soggy. Yields 8 cups
Ingredients
3 twelve-inch English cucumbers
1 medium onion, cut into quarters and thinly sliced crosswise
¼ cup loosely packed fresh dill sprigs
3 or 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cups distilled white or rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon coriander seed
½ teaspoon ground mustard
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1½ tablespoons salt, preferably coarse Kosher salt
½ cup sugar
Instructions
Cut the unpeeled cucumbers crosswise into ¼-inch slices and place them in a large heatproof bowl along with the sliced onions, dill, and garlic.
Place the vinegar, coriander, mustard, peppercorns, bay leaves, salt, and sugar in a nonreactive saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.
Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve.
Pour the hot mixture over the vegetables in the bowl and mix gently.
Let stand for at least 1 hour or refrigerate overnight for optimal flavor.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.

[dballance]

2. Thanks. That pretty much seems to be consensus.

Thanks for the pickle recipe too. But, I wanted to get it from someone I "sort of know" here on DU. You just can't trust the internet

I do like cook, so I have pretty much all the ingredients save the fresh veggies. Those will be great to make sure everything is crispy.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. I hate to even bring this up, since I'm so vague on where I saw/heard it

but I'd swear I read or watched somewhere that you get added health benefits out of pickles that aren't heat treated or pasteurized. In most chain groceries, I think that basically means the 'clausen' brand, that's always sold cold, and has a short shelf life. I don't know how it applies, or even if it does, to other pickled vegetables, though. (My attempts at googling come up with a 'realpickles' web page that talks about probiotics and lactic acid, so maybe that's what the original story was talking about.)

Good luck with whatever you do, and let us know how it works. We do pickling off and on, depending upon how bountiful our cucumber crop is any given year, so I tried growing my own mustard seed a couple of years back. Easy to grow, but a pain in the butt to harvest by hand.

[dballance]

4. My mom used to make pickles in big earthen crock pots.

Wish I had one of those now. It was really only the tomatoes and green beans from the garden I recall her heat canning in big canner on the stove. Waiting to hear all the lids pop as they sealed. Good times.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

5. You can still buy them in various places

I like Lehman Brothers, a business that sells to the Amish in Ohio (well, and the rest of us too).

http://non-electric.lehmans.com/search#w=crock

(Edit: and, btw, we just started this season's jam making. I got to listen to the lids popping on a dozen and a half jars of strawberry jam this last Wednesday night. We've still got a ton of black raspberries to do, though, and I'm going to break out the food mill I got last Christmas and try to make some of it as seedless jelly.)

[grasswire]

6. how about some pretty spiced apple rings, too?

They are so festive at Thanksgiving. Crabapples would be even better but you probably can't find fresh crabapples in the markets.

[japple]

7. This is my mother's recipe for Bread & Butter Pickles which I make most every year.

I have recently started making several batches using Vidalia Onions (no cukes), red peppers and green peppers. I also add hot and/or mild curry powder. When I just pickle the onions, I slice them once from top to bottom, then slice thinly from top to bottom so you get crescent shaped slices. I have people asking for these onions all the time. They do not need to age before eating. You could use white or yellow onions. If you live at a high altitude, you will have to make appropriate adjustments for processing in the water bath.




Bread & Butter Pickles

4 quarts thinly sliced cucumbers
1-1/2 thinly sliced onions
1 cup chopped bell pepper (green or red)
½ cup thinly sliced carrots (optional)
5 garlic cloves

Add 1/3 cup pickling salt and cover with cracked ice. Let stand 3 hrs. or over night. Rinse and drain. Remove garlic.

5 cups sugar
3 cups vinegar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon turmeric

Mix together and bring to a boil. Add cucumbers and bring to boil again. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, then place in sterilized jars. Seal tightly and process in water bath for 10 min.

[japple]

8. I have seen several recipes from Japanese cooks using all sorts of

fresh vegetables--radishes, turnips, carrots. Lots of them have ginger and they sound delicious to me. When I retire, I plan to try my hand at these.

[cbayer]

9. Last night I made some "pickled" potatoes that were fantastic.

Cover 1 cup thinly sliced onions with hot water. Drain after a minute or two.

Add some lime juice and some orange juice, one finely chopped up hot pepper of your choice. I used habanero. Add salt. You will probably need more salt than you think, but can ramp it up at the end.

Boil potato pieces - about ½ by ½ inch - until just done - about 1 pound.

You can peel if you want. I didn't.

Drain and add to onion mixture while still hot.

Let cool completely to room temperature and adjust salt.

Easy and delicious.

[japple]

10. This really appealed to me, possibly because I have lots of turnips. It might be

nice to try some other type of vinegar like rice wine.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2012/09/pickled-turnips-turnip-recipe/

[dballance]

11. Thanks ALL! I think I'm ready now.

Last edited Mon Nov 24, 2014, 10:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Just bought a bunch of fresh veggies to pickle to make a relish tray for T-Giving. Green Beans, Celery, Cucumbers, Red Onions, Green Onions, Cauliflower and a couple of varieties of peppers, some Asparagus.

I totally love cooking for people. I hate that I'm not able to host t-giving like I used to.

This will be fun. I'll get them all into jars probably by late Tuesday night so I can make sure they'll be fully pickled by Thursday.

[japple]

12. Sounds like a wonderful project. I LOVE pickling things and hope

to hear the results.