pickles | The Sheep Are Out…

I am not an expert… yet… on pickling, but here are a few nuggets that I’ve learned over my pickling this season.

1. Be aware of where you get your cucumbers from. We practice organic gardening, so there are no pesticides or fertilizers in our soil to be concerned about. If you buy your cucumbers from the store that is not the case. It’s best that if you can’t grow your own (and don’t have any desperate friends, neighbors or coworkers who have grown too many cucumbers), then try to buy your pickling cucumbers from the farmers’ market or local farm stand. Be sure to ask about how the cukes are grown (specifically for pesticides, etc.), since anything that is one the skin of your cucumbers will end up on your pickles. Even aside from the pesticide issue, most supermarket cucumbers are either slick with waxes or so expensive that it makes pickling seem like a waste of money.

2. If you want crisp pickles, whole or sliced, include a small, fresh grape leaf in the bottom of each jar. I first read about this from Alice Waters, but have come across it multiple times. Apparently grape leaves contain alum, which will help your pickles stay crisp when processed.

Grape leaves for keeping pickles crisp.

3. Always trim off about 1/8 of an inch at each end of the cucumbers (whether for whole or sliced pickles). The blossom end of the cucumbers contain an enzyme that keeps your pickles from staying crisp, so you definitely want to remove that.

4. Pickles are fun to make, and feel a bit more like potion brewing than preserving. You can be creative with your blend of spices, since pickles can be pretty forgiving. And if you’re not free to experiment, where’s the fun in pickling.

5. If you are experimenting with different spices in your pickles, use a light hand. The first batch I made were so heavy in spice that it gave the pickles a slightly weird taste, and in effect wasted a ton of spice. A little goes a long way.

6. Always wear latex gloves when packing the hot jars with vegetables for pickling. They protect your hands a bit from the heat.

7. When pickling (or doing other types of preserving) don’t answer the phone, the door, or a plaintive dog wanting to go in or out. Choose a time when your kids won’t be needing your attention, or you can otherwise stay focused. You’re dealing with hot substances and you want to be focused and uninterrupted.

8. You can be creative with the spices you use in your pickles, but don’t vary from the water, sugar or vinegar levels in the recipe. Those are tested to preserve your foods the best.

9. Never ever tell someone that you are interested in trying pickling things (especially if they have a garden), unless you want to be inundated with enough fresh produce to feed a small army.

A big pile of cucumbers waiting to be pickles.

10. Your own homemade pickles taste better than anything you’ve ever had in the stores. But that may just be because of the energy you put into making them. 🙂

“Did you ever think in your life that you would have made so many pickles?”

Dave recently asked me this at 1am in the morning as we were wrapping up a marathon pickling session. I gave one of those chuckles that comes from pure exhaustion and set the timer for the processing of the last four jars of cured pickles. The answer to Dave’s question was a resounding “no” not in a million years would I have ever thought that I’d have made any pickles, forget about the 40 some odd liters… yes liters… of pickles I’d made over the last few weeks.

When the lady farmer landlord asked if I’d be interested in making pickles, I’d jumped at the chance. Almost literally. Then I realized how many cucumbers one healthy plant can produce, forget about the fact that the cucumber bed at the farm has 7-8 hills of cucumbers, each hill housing 2-3 vines. Oh my…

If you’ve ever seen cucumbers grow, you would know that they are ninja vegetables. Their camouflage is so perfect they put invisibility cloaks to shame. The lady farmer landlord and myself and Dave and Little Man would comb over a vine, plucking any cucumbers we would find. Little Man’s contribution is a bit quesitonable here. It mainly consists of him dropping an action figure into the plant accompanied by much “argh, I’m faaaaaalllllliiiing…” and then demands that his figure be saved. We would pick it all, from the tiny pinky finge- sized cukes to the fat field cucumbers that are too big to be whole pickes, but would make good relish or pickle slices. I state that all 3-4 of us were combing through each fine, picking everything, and 15 minutes later we’d see the vine from a different angle and find 3 more cukes hiding there. Then the next morning when I’d be watering the garden I’d see more smirking at me from under the leaves.

We’ve now put a kaybash on picking cucumbers for pickling. Anything else can be done with them, eat them raw with a little vinegar, make a delicious cold soup or dip (for a cold cucumber yogurt soup, check out my Turkish Cucumber and Yogurt Soup (aka Cacik) recipe), slice them with fresh tomatoes and drizzle them with a little olive oil and balsalmic vinegar for a sliced salad, and the list goes on. You can make jewelry with them for all I care, just don’t ask me to make more pickles… please… 🙂

Grape leaves for keeping pickles crisp.

Kosher-Style Dill Pickles

One of the biggest hurdles to deal with in making pickles is how to keep something submerged in water crisp. One way is to use a fresh grape leaf in each jar. Grape leaves contain alum, which helps to keep the pickles crisp. Also, the blossom end of the cucumbers contains and enzyme that softens pickles. So trim off a little of both ends of the cucumbers to make sure that those enzymes are removed. Now get pickling!

Ingredients
8 lbs. small pickling cucumbers (such as Kirby)
1 cup pickling or kosher salt
3 tbsp. pickling spice
9 cups water
7 ¾ cups white vinegar
7 small, fresh grape leaves
7 bay leaves
7 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
7 dill sprigs and heads, halved

Directions

Wash and scrub the cucumbers under running water. Trim 1/8^th of an inch off of both ends of every cucumber, and then poke them all over with a fork.
A big pile of cucumbers waiting to be pickles.

Poking holes to aid in curing the cucumbers.
In a large, non-reactive bowl create four layers of cucumbers each one topped with ¼ cup of the kosher salt. Once the layers are completed, fill the bowl with cold water to submerge the cucumbers by ¼ inch. Use a plate to weigh down the cucumbers, and let them sit for 12 to 24 hours.
A first layer of cucumbers.

A layer of kosher salt.

The final of four layers of cucumbers and salt.

The cured cucumbers after soaking in the salted water for 24 hours.
Prepare your canner (or large stock pot), jars and lids.
Drain, rinse and drain the cucumbers again.
Wrap the pickling spice in a double thickness of cheese cloth and tie it securely. In a large pot combine the packet of pickling spice, water and vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue at a hard boil for one minute. Discard the packet of pickling spice, and keep the brine hot.
Working with one jar at a time place one grape leaf, one bay leaf, one half of a garlic clove, and one half of a dill head at the bottom of the jar. Pack the jar tightly with cucumbers. Place one half of a garlic clove and one half of a dill head on top of the cucumbers. Pour in the hot pickling liquid leaving ½ inch head space. Remove air bubbles and add more pickling liquid if necessary. Wipe the rim and place a hot lid disk on the jar. Skrew down the band to fingertip-tight.
Place jars in the canner and return to a boil. Process for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and let the jars sit in the hot water for another 5 minutes. Carefully remove the jars from the hot water and place them without tipping on a towel-lined counter top. Let the jars stand for 24 hours, then check the lids to be sure they are all sealed. Any jar that is not sealed can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. Jars with good seals can be cleaned and stored. If any pickles protrude above the brine in their jars, simply turn the jars over weekly in storage to keep the different ends from drying out. Enjoy!