The best cookbook recipe:

Use kirby cucumbers

• 2 quarts (about 16 4-5 inch sliced cucumbers
• thinly slice 2 medium-size onions
• Put cucumbers and onions into a large bowl and toss with 1/2 cup kosher salt
• Put into a 1 quart measure for liquids ice cubes, add bringing water to the 1 quart mark cold water.
• Pour water and ice cubes over vegetables, cover and set aside for 3 hours.
• Wash and sterilize the jars and covers

Thoroughly drain the vegetables discarding liquid and add to a large pot or kettle:

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. celery seed
• 1 tsp. mustard seed
• 3/4 tsp. turmeric

Put pot over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to boiling, add chopped vegetables and cucumbers and simmer for 5 min. Immediately pack pickles into drained jars and seal tightly. Water bath for 10 minutes.

About: “A good friend gave me this recipe many years ago after I munched down nearly a quart while visiting! I threw out ALL my other dill pickle recipes because THIS ONE is the best. Several years ago, it occurred to me to enter my pickles in the County Fair. So I did. Since I'm superintendent over in the Junior Foods & Nutrition Department, I don't get to watch the Open Class judging. So later in the day (after judging in both classes was over), I went to see how my pickles (and other canned goods) fared [pun intended!]. I couldn't find my jar of pickles. They weren't on any of the shelves, neither were they in with the “disqualified” items. Hmmm. Then I spied them! Not only did they have a big blue ribbon on them, but they also received Best of Show AND the canning award! What a thrill!!! There's nothing like winning at the fair–amongst all those good cooks–to feel validated as a successful home-canner. NOTE: I did NOT list an amount for the cucumbers since I've never measured how many pounds I use–sorry! SERVING SIZE is the number of ounces in a quart jar–to facilitate nutritional information.”

http://www.food.com/recipe/blue-ribbon-dill-pickles-241139?scaleto=4&mode=null&st=true There's an ingredient calculator at the website. I made the amounts for '4 quarts' and got 5 pints outta it. That was about 2.5 lbs of cukes. Ingredients

• 7 wide-mouth quart jars, lids & rings
• fresh dill, heads & several inches of stems shaken free of bugs
• cucumbers, washed, scrubbed
• 1 garlic cloves ( or more)
• small, thin sliced onion, red or white

Brine

• 8 1/2 cups water (4.25 c)
• 2 1/4 cups white vinegar (1 c, 2 tblsp)
• 1/2 cup pickling salt (1/4 c)
• can also add celery seed, coriander, mustard seed, as available or as you like!

Directions

1. GET ALL OF THIS GOING BEFORE FILLING THE JARS.
2. Wash 7 quart jars in hot, soapy water (or dishwasher), rinse and fill with hot water; set aside.
3. Fill canning kettle half-full with hottest tap water; set on burner over high heat.
4. In a medium saucepan, fit lids and rings together, cover with water, bring to a simmer.
5. In a large saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to boil; turn off the heat; set aside.
6. FILL JARS: place a layer of dill at the bottom of each jar, along with one garlic clove (if used)

Then TIGHTLY load the cukes into the jar to the NECK of the jar (depending on size you may get two nice layers with a few small cukes in the top–). Squeeze cukes into the jar tightly–uniform size helps; add a few TINY spriglets of dill at the top, too, and another garlic clove if desired.

1. Once jars are loaded, pour in the brine leaving half-inch head space in each jar.
2. Add lid and ring to each jar, tightening evenly.
3. Place jars into canner with water JUST to the necks of the jars.
4. Bring water ALMOST to a boil (about 15 minutes–depending on how fast it heats up).
5. Remove jars, set on a dish towel on the kitchen counter, cover with another dish towel & let cool.
6. Check for seal (indented lid), label jars or lids, store in cool dark cellar or cupboard.
7. NOTES: When washing/scrubbing cukes, sort them into piles by size.

This really helps make your jars look nicer, if you have uniform sizes (and this impresses the judges too!). And makes for easier packing, too.

From Mark Bittman, New York Times

• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 pounds small Kirby cucumbers, washed, and cut into halves or quarters
• 5 cloves or more garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 large bunch dill, if desired, fresh and with flowers OR 2 tablespoons dried dill and 1 teaspoon dill seeds, OR a tablesoon of coriander seeds

1. In a large bowl, combine the salt and boiling water; stir to dissolve the salt. Add a handful of ice cubes to cool down the mixture, then add all remaining ingredients.

2. Add cold water to cover. Use a plate slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl and a small weight to hold the cucumbers under the water. Keep at room temperature.

3. Begin sampling the cucumbers after 2 hours if they are quartered, 4 hours if they are halved. In either case, it will probably take from 12 to 24 hours, or even 48 hours, for them to taste “pickly” enough to suit your taste. When they are, refrigerate them, still in the brine. The pickles will continue to ferment as they sit, more quickly at room temperature, more slowly in the refrigerator.

Yield: About 30 pickle quarters.

• 7 lbs fresh cucumbers
• fresh dill
• garlic cloves
• 4 c white vinegar
• 3 Q water
• 2 Tblsp sugar
• 3/4 (no amount noted!) salt

1. Cut cukes and pack into quart jars
2. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and boil with 2 heads of dill for 2 minutes
3. Pour brine over the cukes,seal.
4. Boil for 10 minutes.

3 c vinegar - preferably wine, cider or champagne vinegar 2.5 c brown sugar

1 tblsp ea. celery seed mustard seed dry mustard cloves peppercorns

some onions, half a lemon. sliced

cook all tog and then add if desired,

green tomatoes (about 7.5 lbs) 6 good sized onions, sliced thin half lemon, sliced thin 2 sweet red peppers

32 parts vinegar ( e.g 2 quarts ) 1/2 part brown sugar (1/4 c ) 1 part each whole mustard seed ( e.g. 1/2 cup ) & pickling salt 2 fresh dill heads or other herb

Ingredients

• 1 c kosher salt
• 1 gallon water + 1 c water
• 1 large daikon radish
• 3 c white cider vinegar
• 2 c sugar

Directions

1. Dissolve the salt in 1 gallon of water.
2. Peel and slice the daikon.
3. Place the daikon in a ceramic or glass crock and cover with the brine. It is vital that the brine completely covers the daikon.
4. Soak the daikon for 4 or 5 days.
5. In a saucepan combine the 1c water, vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil.
6. Remove from heat and cool.
7. Place drained daikon in a glass bowl and cover with vinegar mix.
8. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 3 days before serving.
9. These pickles will keep about 2 months in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

• 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 1 pound of small young daikons, no bigger than 2 inches around, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons + 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 and 1/4 cups distilled white vinegar
• 1 cup of lukewarm water

Directions

1. First, you must torture the veggies. Place them in a bowl and sprinkle on the salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar.
2. Now, begin kneading the veggies for about 3 minutes
3. You can stop kneading once you can bend a matchstick of daikon almost in half without breaking.
4. Drain and rinse, then press the veggies gently to expel any extra water
5. If you plan to eat these soon, put them back into the empty bowl, or transfer them to a 1 quart jar for longer storage.
6. Make the brine and pour over the veggie. The brine should cover them.
7. After an hour, you can use your pickled veggies, or they'll keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

(from Flavors of India by Madhur Jaffrey)

Here's a pickle that is addictive to eat as it is easy to make. This carrot, radish and cauliflower pickle is tangy sweet with a mild bite of mustard from the mustard oil and brown mustard seeds in the brine. Similar to a chow-chow or mustard piccallili, or even an Italian giardinera, this flavorful veggie combo can serve as a side dish accent to a main meal or as a condiment or ingredient in other dishes. We crave it with almost every Indian meal, but also serve with grilled or roasted meats, and chop it up and stir into tuna, pasta and grain salads. For pasta, rice or grain salads, I've also used the unctuous spicy brine as a shortcut to making a dressing for the salad. In the photo below, chopped vegetable pickles and the brine were added to sweet potatoes, peas, pineapple and couscous to make a filling for stuffed artichokes. This is a pantry staple for us now, too — it's versatility seems to know no bounds!

1 cup (240ml) mustard oil 1 small onion, finely diced 1 small coin of ginger, peeled and julienned 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced 1/2 medium cauliflower, washed and divided into florets 1 small daikon (1 lb/450g), peeled and cut into 1-in/2.5cm cubes 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-in/2.5cm cubes 2 tsp. garam masala 1-2 TBL cayenne pepper powder 4 tsp. ground cumin 2 TBL. brown mustard seeds, gently crushed 1 TBL. kosher or sea salt 2/3 cup (130g) raw sugar 1/2 cup (120ml) white vinegar

Heat mustard oil in wok or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, reduce heat to medium and cook until onions lightly brown. Add ginger and garlic, and stir fry 1 minute. Add cauliflower, daikon and carrots and fry together 1 minute. Add garam masala, pepper, cumin, mustard seeds and salt, and stir through. Mix sugar into vinegar, then add to pan. Stir through and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat, and allow to cool.

Sterilize a large quart jar, and transfer pickle to jar. Cover with cheesecloth or paper towel secured with a rubber band to allow excess moisture to evaporate.. Keep jar in a dry, sunny spot for 2 days. Occasionally shake the jars to distribute spices. On the third day, remove the cheesecloth and seal with a tight-fitting lid. Leave on countertop in a warm, sunny spot for another 4-7 days. Once pickle has soured a little, it is ready and can be kept in the refrigerator after use.

Serve as part of an Indian meal, or with roasted or grilled chicken. Add to couscous, rice or other grains, along with vegetables of your choice to make a quick salad or stuffing for cooked and de-choked artichokes.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Even though we know–intellectually–that for centuries people have preserved food via lacto-fermentation, again, as with cultured milk, it is a head trip for grocery store kids like us to soak some veggies in brine for a few weeks, open them up and chow down.

Lacto-Fermentation is a process in which naturally occurring lactic acid producing bacteria are allowed to multiply. The lactic acid that they produce prevents the growth of the kinds of bacteria that cause spoilage. Thus lacto-fermentation is a method of preserving foods as well as a way of creating a distinct flavor. Lacto-fermented foods include sauerkraut, kimchi, Swiss cheese, and sourdough bread among many others.

Lactic acid producing bacterias, and there are many different varieties, tend to have a high tolerance for salt unlike their unwanted bacterial cousins. The process of lacto-fermentation begins with creating a brine, which is the is the way pickles used to be made–most store bought pickles are now made with vinegar due to unwarranted safety concerns over lacto-fermentation.

Today, sauerkraut is the best known lacto-fermented food. Dill pickles are traditionally made this way too. In an old country store pickle barrel, lacto fermented pickles would sit out all winter long. All they'd do is make sure the brine always covered the pickles. They'd get stronger flavored, and softer textured as the year went on, but they lasted.

We look forward to trying this with cucumbers, but for this first experiment we used a big, pretty daikon from the farmers market. The entire process is amazingly simple:

Stir up a brine solution of 2 Tablespoons sea salt (un-iodized salt) to 1 quart water. Note that you must use salt that has no additives-check the ingredients of your salt to make sure that it contains nothing but salt. Additives in salt can prevent the lacto-fermentation process from occurring. Bottled water is best, but we used LA tap with no ill effects. The worry is that the chlorine in tap water will also interfere with the culture.

Peel and slice the daikon, and pack it into a very clean quart sized mason jar. Add a peeled garlic clove if you want. Pour the brine over the slices until the jar is nearly full. Leave just a little room at the top for gas expansion. Put the lid on, and place it your cupboard for as long as you can wait. A week, two weeks, a month–the flavor changes over time. We waited 2 weeks.

When we opened the jar it hissed and fizzed, and let off the powerful aroma of sauerkraut. We fished out the first slice, sniffed it and eyeballed it like curious but frightened monkeys. An uninformed and vague discussion of botulism followed. Finally the gauntlet was thrown down, and the challenge could not be ignored: are we wimps or are we homesteaders? So we ate of the fruit. Or one of us did. The other stood by ready to dial 911.

Yum! Our pickled daikons are salty and garlic-y and firm, and taste a lot like a good garlic dill, only with a different texture. Now that the jar is open, we're keeping it in the fridge.

“I wrote this recipe for one quart canning jar at a time although it can be doubled easily; each quart seems to hold approximately 1lb of cukes. I've also recently been doing this with spears but soaking for two days - so good! Enjoy :)”

• 1lb pickling cukes sliced 1/4“ or to your liking
• 1/4-1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic glove, thinly sliced
• 2-3 dried red Thai chilies, coarsely chopped
• 1 fresh hot pepper of choice, thinly sliced
• ~1/4 c chopped fresh dill, loosely packed
• ~1/4 c chopped cilantro, loosely packed
• 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1/8 tsp caraway seeds

• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 c apple cider vinegar
• 1 c water
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Add all of the seeds, herbs, garlic, and peppers into the bottom of a cleaned quart canning jar. Add the cukes and onions the best you can to get them all in there. Combine the sugar, salt, vinegar, and water in a pot and heat until the salt and sugar are dissolved. If you aren't canning these, then there is no real temperature requirement. Pour into jar, close lid, and give it a good shake; let rest in the refrigerator over night or for several hours.�