Thursday, August 5, 2010
Pickles, Pickles, Pickles! Most of what I've made so far is just variations on a classic pickling brine, and what I've come up with are pretty tasty. I've also figured out the correct proportions for making a single quart wide mouth jar's worth of brine, with the cukes already added into the jar. We've reached critical mass in the garden with the cucumbers ("Bush Pickles"), but that was what we were counting on - making pickles! Ok, ok, here it is:
Simple Pickling Brine
1/2 cup vinegar (any kind)
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp salt
1/8 tsp alum
Boil the vinegar, water and salt together, while you are filling your jar. When the jar is full, add alum to the top and pour the brine over the contents, leaving a quarter inch of headspace from the lid. Seal it up, and give it a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Leave them for at least a few days (if you can wait that long) while they continue to "pickle" themselves.
The Variations
I've made dill with cider vinegar and straight balsamic (nothing added); with white vinegar we have a few each of garlic, ginger, jalapeno, cayenne, and tabasco. (The spicy ones are from our garden hot peppers - not for the faint-hearted!) This is it so far - I'll keep you posted on the next ones. Now it's time to completely switch gears and make blackberry jam!