>>> Continued from previous message
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01
      Title: Pickling and Relish Pointers
 Categories: Inform, Canfood, Pickling, Typed
      Yield: 1 servings
MMMMM--------------------PICKLES AND RELISHES-------------------------
  Pickles, relishes, and chutneys are vegetables prepared with brine
  (salt and water) or vinegar and some sugar and spices. The vinegar
  acts as a preservative, keeping any spoilage organisms from growing.
  Sealing pickled foods in jars and processing in a boiling water bath
  helps keep them fresh, crisp, and free from mold.
  Whole, sliced, or chunked vegetables cooked in vinegar or a vinegar
  sugar syrup, can become pickles. Chopped or ground combinations
  cooked with vinegar, sugar, and spices become relishes. Chutneys are
  highly spiced fruit and/or vegetable combinations.
  The old fashioned dill pickles and sauerkraut are actually fermented
  in brine, rather than cooked in vinegar. The brine, plus the sugar
  from the cucumber or cabbage, promote a special kind of bacterial
  action that, over several days or weeks, changes cucumbers to pickles
  and transforms cabbage to kraut.
  PICKLING POINTERS Because certain ingredients are very important for
  proper pickling, you'll need to be aware of some of the following
  pointers.
  1. Use produce that is as fresh as possible. Take it from the garden
  to your kitchen and into jars just as rapidly as possible. If you
  can't process the produce immediately, be sure to keep it
  refrigerated. Vegetables should be just barely ripe; they'll keep
  their shape better than if they were fully ripe. Always select
  cucumber varieties that have been created for pickling. The large
  salad cucumbers were developed for salads, not for pickles. Use
  smaller, less pretty cukes, with pale skins, plenty o bumps, and
  black spines. Never use waxed cucumbers. Select evenly shaped and
  sized vegetables for even cooking and better looking pickles.
  2. Water is an important pickle ingredient, especially for long brined
  pickles. Soft water is best. Hard water can cloud the brine or
  discolor the pickles. If you don't have soft water, boil hard water
  for 15 minutes, then let it stand overnight. Skim off the scum, then
  carefully dip out what you need so you won't get any sediment from
  the bottom. Then add 1 tablespoon of salt for each gallon; or you cn
  use distilled water if your water is hard.
  3. Salt, too, makes a difference. Table salt contains special
  additives to prevent it from caking in your shaker, and these
  materials can cloud brine. Iodized salt can darken brine. use only
  pure, granulated salt, also known as kosher salt, pickling salt, or
  dairy salt. Most supermarkets stock it with canning supplies.
  4. Vinegar is a crucial ingredient for many pickle recipes. check the
  label when you shop, and be sure to get a good quality vinegar of
  from 4 to 6 percent acidity. (Sometimes listed as 40 to 60 grain.)
  Weaker vinegar will not pickles foods. use distilled white vinegar
  for light colored pickles, cider vinegar for darker foods or more
  interesting flavor.
  5. Sugar can be brown or white granulated, depending on the lightness
  or darkness of food to be pickled. Or, if you wish, use half corn
  syrup or honey and half sugar. Don't use sugar substitutes unless you
  follow their manufacturers' directions.
  6. spices must be fresh. Old spices will make your pickles taste
  musty. Most recipes call for whole spices, which give stronger flavor
  and don't color the pickles as much. It is suggested you tie the
  spices in a cheesecloth bag and add them to the kettle during
  cooking, then remove the bag before packing the pickles into jars.
  Some cooks like to leave whole spices in the jars for stronger flavor
  and just for appearance's sake, but loose spices may darken the
  pickles somewhat.
  7. Alum, lime, and other ingredients added to crisp or color pickles
  are not necessary, and their use is not recommended. These
  ingredients are often found in old fashioned recipes. Most of the
  newer recipes won't need any of these additives.
  Source: Vegetable Gardening Encyclopedia Typos by Dorothy Flatman 1995
MMMMM
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01
      Title: Preventing Pickling Problems
 Categories: Inform, Canfood, Pickling, Typed
      Yield: 1 servings
MMMMM---------------------PROBLEM PREVENTION--------------------------
  There are so many factors involved in pickling -- weather and growing
  conditions, type of salt, acidity of vinegar, storage temperature,
  time from gathering to pickling, processing -- that sometimes things
  go wrong. Here are some common problems and causes.
  1. SOFT OR SLIPPERY PICKLES: Could result from not removing the scum
  from the surface of the brine; from not keeping the cucumbers
  submerged in the brine; from using too weak of brine or vinegar,
  using hard water, or not removing the blossom end of a cucumber; from
  not sealing each jar as it is filled; from not heating long enough to
  destroy microorganisms; or from storing in too warm a spot. Check
  jars carefully for signs of spoilage.
  2. SHRIVELED PICKLES: May be the result of too strong brine, vinegar,
  syrup, or pickling solution, or may mean cucumbers didn't travel from
  the field to the kitchen fast enough.
  3. HOLLOW PICKLES: Could result from too long a time between pickling
  and processing, from improper curing or too high a temperature during
  fermentation, or from bad growing conditions.  Don't use any
  cucumbers that float as you wash them.
  4. DARK PICKLES: Indicate iron in the water or cooking utensil, ground
  spices or whole spices left in jars, cooking too long with spices, or
  hard water.
  5. FADED, DULL  PICKLES: Result from poor growing conditions or too
  mature cucumbers.
  6. WHITE SEDIMENT IN THE BOTTOM OF JARS: It isn't harmful. It could
  come from not using pure granulated salt, or could be the result of
  fermentation. Check jars carefully for signs of spoilage.
  7. SPOILED PICKLES: Means you didn't process them properly; that you
  used old ingredients, nonstandard jars, or old lids; or that the
  pickling solution wasn't boiling hot, or you filled too many jars
  before sealing them. In other words, you didn't follow directions!
  Check jars carefully for signs of spoilage.
  Source Vegetable Gardening Encyclopedia Typos by Dorothy Flatman 1995
MMMMM
>>> Continued to next message
 * OLX 2.1 TD * MSI HQ! BBS - Home of Off-Line Xpress 805-395-0650
--- WM v3.10/92-0423
---------------