September 2, 2014 - Radio Kitchen - Canning and Pickling the Summer's Best
Well you can't eat it all. Nope. This time of year, there is so much good food out there that you need a long term plan to handle it all. So that's why we invented pickling and canning, and Chef Jerry Pellegrino of Waterfront Kitchen knows all about this stuff.
First a little clarity: pickling is the preservation of foods, usually vegetables (occasionally fruit) using a high acid brine to guard against bacteria; canning is similar, and it features cooking a sterilized glass jar filled with the food in boiling water, killing off the bacteria that would cause the food to spoil. In each case, the food must somehow achieve
a PH of 4.6 or less.
For pickling or canning the classic "Mason Jar" is de rigueur. This classic bit of Americana is essentially unchanged since is invention in 1858. Here are some key tips:
Pickling
- Use fresh prime vegetables or fruit. Avoid anything with a sign of rot or spoilage.
- Trim the blossom end of cucumbers which may contain a pro-spoilage enzyme.
- Only use standard pickling salt. Iodized salt will turn the brine cloudy.
- White distilled vinegar or cider vinegar are your best choices.
Canning
- Invest in a canning rack and a kettle big enough to hold it.
- Only use ripe fruit, never over-ripe.
- Follow recipes: the proportion of high acid to low acid food has been worked out, as has the proper amount of spices and seasoning.
- Only sterilize in boiling water: do not use the oven or hot steam.
- Only use the size jar the recipe calls for. Empty air is the enemy of safe canning.
Here are a few recipes from Chef Jerry:
Pickling in your Home
Even though this recipe is written for cucumbers, it can used to pickle many things. I’ve used it for Fall onions, carrots, fennel, okra and radishes with great success.
Ingredients
8 pickling cucumbers
¼ cup fresh dill, roughly chopped
1 tbls whole mustard seed
1 tbls whole coriander seed
1 tbls whole fennel seed
1 tbls whole black pepper corn
1 tbls whole white pepper
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
½ cup plus 3 tbls Kosher Salt
¼ cup sugar
1 cup champagne vinegar (or similar)
Brine the cucumbers
• Dissolve ½ cup of salt with 8 cups cold water
• Soak the cucumbers in the brine solution for four hours.
• Rinse them off in cold water.
Pickling the cucumbers
• Combine the vinegar with 2 cups water in a sauce pan. Add all of the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Pack the cucumbers into a container with a lid large enough to hold them.
• Pour the pickling liquid over the cucumbers , cover and place in the refrigerator.
• Allow to pickle for at least seven days.
Spicy Dill Pickles
3 lbs cucumbers, sliced
5 teaspoons Kosher salt
3.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon mustard seeds
2 teaspoons dried dill
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
6 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 sprigs of fresh dill per caning jar
Salt the cucumbers and cover with water. Refrigerate overnight.
Drain the cucumbers and load into canning jars
Add all the ingredients to one cup of water in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil.
Pour over the pickles and seal in the jars.
Allow to cool to room temperature and refrigerate for one week before using.
Pickled Red Onions
10 large red onions, cleaned and sliced on the mandolin, thinly in half moons
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Salt
32 ounces white or cider vinegar
10 garlic cloves, halved
50 black peppercorns
30 allspice berries
20 sprigs of thyme
5 small hot peppers
Place the onions in a china cap and liberally rinse under hot water. Let drain.
Load the onions into caning jar. Pack them in rather tightly.
Distribute the flavoring ingredients equally between the jars.
Mix the vinegar, salt and sugar together in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil, making sure the salt and sugar dissolve.
Fill the canning jars with brine and seal. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate for two days before use.
