The Verdict on Pickled Carrots

A couple of weeks ago I made pickled carrots for the first time. Now that they have had time to soak up some of the flavor from the spices, I figured it was time to give them a try. I also asked several other people to try them so that there was more than just the opinion of one person who doesn't care much for carrots in the first place.


First let me say that they were much crisper than I had expected. The processing in the water bath really didn't turn them mushy.

The second recipe in the post (the one with cinnamon and sugar in it) definitely went over the best. The reaction to that one ranged from, "that is not bad," to, "that is good." It was definitely my favorite, between the two recipes.

The general reaction to the first recipe (the one with parsnips in it) was that it was too sour. I figured that everyone was just trying them plain when they gave that opinion, so I decided to see how they tasted in a salad. It was an improvement to have a big bite of lettuce and some dressing with them, but I still felt that they were too sour.

As a person who does not like carrots much to begin with, I am not sure if I will try pickling them again. Still I am glad that I started blogging because it lead me to try something new and I think it is good for me to try new things.


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Pickling Carrots

After Friday's post, I decided to look through recipes for pickled carrots. There was a huge variety of them to choose from.

One from Pickles and Relishes: From Apples to Zucchinis that had both carrots and parsnips in it caught my attention. When I looked closer, I realized that it was a recipe for refrigerator pickles. On the one hand, refrigerator pickles can be nice, because they stay crisp. On the other hand, you have to consider how much refrigerator space you are willing to take up. I decided to turn it into a recipe for canned pickles.

Another recipe from cooks.com caught my attention because it was similar to my recipe for pickled beets. I decided to also try a variation of that recipe.


Pickled Carrots and Parsnips
(makes about 8 half-pint jars)

1 pound carrots
1 pound parsnips
3 cups vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup pickling salt
1 Tbls pickling spice

Cut the carrots and parsnips into 3 inch long sticks. Combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Pack carrots and parsnips into hot jars and cover with brine leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


Pickled Carrots
(makes about 8 half-pint jars)

2 pounds carrots
8 cinnamon sticks (about 2 inches long)
16 cloves
8 allspice berries
3 cups vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp pickling salt

Cut the carrots into 3 inch long sticks. Place two cloves, one allspice berry and one cinnamon stick in each jar. Combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Pack carrots into jars and cover with brine leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

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Bread and Butter Pickles

When it comes to pickled cucumbers, my favorite is definitely bread and butter pickles. The store bought ones simply can not compare to homemade ones. The main thing lacking in the store bought pickles is onion slices. They may be infused with an onion flavor, but most brands don't have the actual slices of onions in the jar.

After the onions have been sitting in the brine for a few weeks and have had some time to give up some of their onion taste to the cucumbers and soak some flavors from the other spices in the jar, they actually taste quite good. It is like getting pickled cucumbers and pickled onions both in one jar.


The recipe that I like is really a cross between a recipe from the Ball Blue Book and a recipe from a 1948 edition of the Kerr Home Canning Book. Back when Ball and Kerr were actually separate companies, the Kerr Home Canning Book was once as much of a trusty standard as the Ball Blue Book.

Bread and Butter Pickles

4 lbs cucumbers, sliced
2 lbs onions, sliced
1/3 cup canning salt
3 cups vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 Tbs mustard seed
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cloves

Mix cucumbers and onions with canning salt. cover with ice cubes and let stand 1 1/2 hours. Drain and rinse. Bring remaining ingredients to boil in a large sauce pan. Add cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Fill hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes
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Pickled Watermelon Rind

Don't throw that rind away. It makes delicious pickles.

I have loved this treat since I was a child. However, I almost wonder if I will be able to continue enjoying it.

Perhaps it is my imagination, but it seems like hybridization results in watermelons with thinner and thinner rinds every year. Every time I pickle watermelon rind, I feel like one of these years I am going to cut into a watermelon and find no rind there to pickle. I certainly wouldn't want that to happen.


The quantities that I list in this recipe are for just 1 quart of rind. Even a fairly small watermelon with thin rind will yield that much.

I believe that the spices that I use are fairly traditional, but you can find a lot of variety. For example, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving has a recipe with only cinnamon, and The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving has a recipe that uses lime instead of lemon.

Pickling watermelon rind is a two day process. On the first day, prepare the rind by removing the green part, and cutting the rind into chunks. Place the rind in a pickling crock, a plastic bowl, or a non-reactive pan. Cover it with a brine made from one quart water, and 1/4 cup pickling salt. Place a plate on top and weight it down to kep the rind submerged. Allow it to sit in a cool place over night.

On the second day, drain and rinse. Cover the rind with fresh water. Boil until it is soft, and drain again. Meanwhile make a syrup of 1 cup vinegar, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1/2 sliced lemon. heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the rind to the syrup and cook until the rind is translucent.

For each pint, place 1 cinnamon stick (about 2 inches long), four cloves, and 3 allspice berries in the jar. Use a slotted spoon to add the rind. Cover with syrup leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process pints in a water bath for 10 minutes. For quart jars, double the spices and process for 15 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


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Canning Sauerkraut

A couple of my siblings won't eat sauerkraut because it reminds them of the smell permeating the house when Mom canned it. She made it in 5 gallon batches, so the smell did get rather strong. I still eat it, though. Making smaller batches is easier on my nose, and I can't give up eating it. After all, how could I pass up a Reuben sandwich.



By the way, to her children's surprise, my mother's 5 gallon crock sold for 3 times the price of a brand new 5 gallon crock. Nobody paid much attention to the other crocks at the estate auction, but the company name that was printed on the side of that one caught the attention of the antique dealers. I have no idea were she originally got it or how old it was.

Back to the topic. When I wrote about pickling, I said that there were two methods. You either add an acid such as vinegar to a food, or you add salt and let the fermentation process create it's own acid. Sauerkraut uses the second method.

It is traditionally fermented in a crock, but a container made of glass or food-grade plastic will work as well. For each medium sized head of cabbage, you need 1-1/2 Tablespoons of canning salt. Put about an inch of sliced cabbage in the crock, sprinkle it with salt, and stir it up. Continue with another layer of cabbage and more salt. By working in layers, you ensure that the salt is distributed well.

The salt will soon begin drawing water out of the cabbage, creating a brine. Pack the cabbage down either with your hands or with a potato masher. You should end up with enough brine to cover the cabbage, but there are occasional years when the cabbage just isn't as moist. When there is not enough brine you can add a brine made from 1-1/2 Tablespoons of salt and 1 quart of water.

Place a plate that fits in the crock over the cabbage and weigh it down, so the cabbage is submerged. As somebody who likes reading old cookbooks, I have noticed that older recipes usually said to weight it down with a heavy limestone rock. They said that the lime adds flavor to sauerkraut. I don't really know if limestone improves the flavor, because by the time I was born, this practice had generally been replaced by cleaner weights such as a canning jar that is filled with water. When the cabbage is fermented this way a scum (caused by the growth of yeast) forms on the top. This scum has to be skimmed off every couple of days.

In the book, "Pickles and Relishes: From Apples to Zucchinis, 150 recipes for preserving the harvest," Andrea Chesman introduced me to a nice improvement on the traditional way of doing things. Instead of weighing the plate down with glass jars, fill a large plastic food storage bag with brine, put that in another food storage bag, for extra protection, and use that as a weight. The bag molds itself to the shape of the crock and prevents air from getting to the cabbage. The lack of air, prevents the growth of yeast, so you don't have to skim scum off.

I have found that this works quite well, for a small batch of kraut. For a large batch, my question would be, "where do you get a large enough bag?" I would not use a garbage bag, because plastic that isn't made specifically for food storage leaches harmful chemicals into your food.

There is also a company, now, that makes a special crock that seals out air. I have never tried it but I assume it works as well as the plastic bag idea. With either of these new methods, you do not want to disturb the cabbage the whole time that is fermenting, because you don't want to let air in.

The crock should be kept around 60-75 °F during the fermentation process. As the cabbage ferments, it creates gas (which can escape around the plastic bag). You know the cabbage is finished fermenting when it no longer gives off gas bubbles. This takes 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the temperature.

You could actually just keep your kraut in the crock, but you would have to keep skimming scum off it so it is better to can it. Leave 1/2 inch headspace and process in a water bath. Process pints for 20 minutes or 25 minutes for quarts.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes
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Two Pineapple Canning Recipes

Pineapple is in season. Obviously I don't have a local source, for pineapple, but I have to pick some up at the grocery store while it is in season. I was looking through the index of one of my canning recipe books trying to decide which pineapple jam recipe I wanted to use this year. For some reason, the word "raspberries" jumped out at me. Suddenly those two sounded like a great combination to me. Since I couldn't find a recipe that had them both, before you knew it I was experimenting again.


It set well, so my experiment was a success in that area. As for taste, it was ok, but it really didn't turn out quite the way I expected. I think I might try it again with more pineapple, and less raspberry.

Pineapple-Raspberry Jam
Yield is about 6 half pint jars.

2 cups finely chopped pineapple
2 cups crushed raspberries
1 package powdered Pectin
5 cups sugar

Combine pineapple, berries and pectin. Bring to boil over high heat. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam, if necessary. Fill hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process 10 minutes in a water bath.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes



I also decided to make some pineapple pickles this year. The recipe is based on a recipe from the Ball Blue Book. Their recipe infuses the brine with flavor by boiling the seasonings in the brine for a while, then discarding the seasonings before canning. I happen to like the method of putting the seasonings in the jar and letting the flavor gradually infuse while the pickles sit on the shelf. I also had some ginger root on hand and decided to throw that in too.

Pickled Pineapple
Yield is 4 Pint Jars

2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
4 cinnamon sticks (about 2 inches long)
12 allspice berries
12 cloves
4 slices ginger root
2 pineapples (cut into spears)

Combine brown sugar, vinegar, and water. Heat to simmering. Place one stick cinnamon, 3 allspice berries, 3 cloves, one slice ginger root in each jar. Pack pineapple into jars, and add brine leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add lids and process 10 minutes in a water bath.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes
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The Lost Art of Pickling

The term "pickling" refers to the process of preserving food by using acid to prevent the growth of bacteria. This can be done two ways. You can simply add an acid such as vinegar, or you can cover the food with salt water and allow the fermentation process to create lactic acid.


Some times both methods are used. The food is fermented for a certain period of time, then the salt water is removed and vinegar is added.

Spices are usually added for flavor. When the food that is pickled is small or is cut up into small pieces, the finished product is often called a relish. When a fruit is pickled, the finished product is often called "chutney."

Once upon a time (before the invention of canning jars) people simply put their vegetables in a stone crock, added the brine, and weighted it down to keep the vegetables submerged. While acid prevents the growth of bacteria, it does not prevent the growth of yeast and mold, so you occasionally had to skim this off from the top of the crock. Today we can prevent the growth of yeast and mold by canning our pickles.

Once upon a time, people pickled just about anything they could. After all, you don't want to starve to death during the winter. As the options for preserving food increased, the amount of pickling that is done, decreased.

Before writing this post I wandered through the grocery store aisles just to see how many pickled foods I could find. There was a very big selection of pickled cucumbers. There was also a nice sized selection of pickled olives and pickled cabbage (i.e. sauerkraut). Since vinegar is used as a preservative in canned salsa, that means that salsa also technically goes into the category of pickled foods. The Mexican section also had a nice selection of pickled jalapeños.

I also found a variety of other pickled foods such as okra, cauliflower, carrots, watermelon rind, etc. However all of these foods combined took up less space than half of the pickled cucumbers.

While I certainly would not want to go back to the days when not pickling food meant the possibility of not making it through the winter, I do think that pickling more than just cucumbers is a nice way to add fun and variety to my diet. Personally I always pickle some of my garden produce just for the fun of it.
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Canning Green Beans and a Recipe for Pickled Green Beans

I like planting bush beans for canning, because they are ready for the harvest all at once and you can get the whole winters worth put up in a short time. Personally I think pole beans are nicer for eating throughout the summer rather than canning. In any case, whether you plant bush beans or pole beans, green beans or yellow beans, the canning instructions for them are all the same.


Canning Beans

Wash, trim, and cut beans to desired length. Fill hot pint jars with beans. Add 1/2 tsp canning/pickling salt (if desired). Add boiling water, leaving 1 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a pressure canner at 10 pound pressure for 20 minutes

For quart Jars, use 1 tsp salt ( if desired), and increase processing time to 25 minutes.

For Altitudes above 1000 feet, use 15 pounds pressure.


Pickled Green Beans with Garlic and Ginger

Though I wrote this recipe for pint jars, 12 ounce jelly jars work nice for gift giving. After canning, allow a couple of weeks for the beans to soak up flavor from the brine.

2 pounds beans (green, yellow or a mixture of both)
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic
4 slices ginger root

Wash beans and trim ends, Cut to length to fit the jar. For standard pint jars, the beans should be about 4 inches long in order to allow enough headspace.

Combine vinegar, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil.

Place one clove garlic, and one slice ginger root in each jar. Pack beans into jars. Pour brine into jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


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Canning Beets and a Recipe for Pickled Beets

It is time to move past berries and start getting into vegetables.

In case you have ever wondered, the picture that I have been using for my header is a jar of pickled beets. I think pickles make as nice of gifts as jam, so nobody is surprised when they get a jar of pickles from me.


This pickled beet recipe is based on a recipe from Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook. I really like this cookbook, but it should be pointed out, that the canning instructions in it need to be updated, as this book still uses the open kettle method. Yield is 3 pint jars.

Pickled beets

3 pounds beets
3 cinnamon sticks (about 2 inches long)
6 whole allspice
12 whole cloves
2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar

Boil beets until tender (20 to 40 minutes depending on the size of the beets). Drain and rinse under cool water. Remove the skin. If the beets are very small, they can be left whole, other wise either slice or cut the beets into chunks, whichever you prefer.

Combine vinegar, water, and sugar, and bring to a boil.

Place 1 cinnamon stick, 2 allspice berries, and 4 cloves in each jar. Add beets. Pour hot liquid into the jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add lids. Process for 10 minutes in a water bath.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


Canning beets

Beets (like other vegetables) are low acid, so they must be processed in a pressure canner in order to prevent botulism.

Boil beets until skins slip off (15 to 25 minutes depending on the size of the beets). Drain and rinse under cool water. Remove the skin. Cut as desired (they can be sliced, cubed, or baby beets can be left whole). Place in pint jars. An optional 1/2 tsp canning salt can be added if desired. Fill with hot water leaving 1 inch headspace. Process with the pressure canner method at 10 pounds pressure for 20 minutes.

For quart jars, use 1 tsp salt (if desired) and process for 25 minutes.

For altitudes above 1,000 feet, use 15 pounds pressure.
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Pickled Asparagus Recipe

When Pam made a comment about her mother-in-law's pickled asparagus, I realized that asparagus was a vegetable that I had never pickled before. Naturally, I had to set out to find a recipe. After looking at several I finally decided to try this recipe from recipezaar.com.



I like using Jelly jars for pickles because they look more decorative; and of course, I think homemade pickles make good gifts. I chose to try the recipe without the optional hot pepper flakes. Since pickles need to sit for a couple of weeks in order to allow the vegetables plenty of time to soak up the flavor from the brine, I will have to be patient to find out how my pickles turned out.

Thank you, Pam, for getting me started on a new quest.

So here's the recipe:

Pickle asparagus in 12 oz jelly jars, which are a little taller than pint jars-just right for the tender portion of an asparagus stalk. Some people like to pack asparagus into jars with the tips down, so that the spears are easy to remove without breaking them, but others think that asparagus looks more attractive with the tips up. Pack your pickles either way.

Ingredients

• 5 cloves garlic, sliced
  
• 15 allspice berries
  
• 30 black peppercorns
  
• 20 coriander seeds
  
• 5 pieces mace or nutmeg
  
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)
  
• 3 lbs asparagus, trimmed to fit into 12-ounce jelly jars
  
• 2 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
  
• 2 1/2 cups water
  
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pickling salt
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  

Directions

1. Divide the garlic, allspice, peppercorns, coriander, mace or nutmeg, and pepper flakes (if you're using them) among 5, 12-ounce jelly jars.
2. Pack the asparagus vertically in the jars, tips down or up.
3. In a nonreactive saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar.
4. Pour the hot liquid over the asparagus, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
5. Close the jars with hot two-piece caps.
6. Process the jars for 10 minutes using the water bath method.
7. Store the cooled jars in a cool, dry, dark place for at least 3 weeks before eating the asparagus.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes

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