Home Economics Circular September 1958 reppy pickles I p.ettsh,, By KATHRYN J. ORR Specialist in Foods and Nutrition KINDS OF PICKLES Pickled pineapple, tart and sweet .. dills with a tang . .. old-fashioned cu­ cumber slices . piquant piccalilli .. these typify the four kinds of homemade pickles. Easiest to make are the fruit pickles which are simmered in a sweet-sour sirup. Pineapples and mangos may be preserved in this way. Then there are the quick-processed pickles made from vegetables salted down overnight and combined the next day with boiling-hot vinegar and spice. Next are the brined pickles, also called fermented pickles because they go · through a curing process lasting several weeks. Green tomato and cucumber dills belong in this group, along with brined beans. Last are the relishes, such as tomato catsup, chili sauce, and chutneys made of vegetables or fruits, chopped and sea­ soned, : or cooked down to a spicy sauce. Best pickled vegetables are firm, clear, even in color throughout with no Cooperative extension work in cloudy or white spots, and have a tart, Agriculture and Home Economics pungent flavor. College of Agriculture Univ,nity of Hawaii United Stoles Pickled fruits are plump, firm but nepartment of Agriculture cooperating tender, and have a spicy, sweet-sour taste. FOR SUCCESS IH PICKLING with other ingredients and then lifted out before pickles are packed. Spices Use only fresh, good-quality fruits packed in the jars with pickles will turn and vegetables . Cucumbers and dark. When using a spice bag, be sure green tomatoes are best pickled with­ to have a clean, thin, white cloth large in 24 hours of picking. Fruits may enough so juices can circulate through be slightly under- ripe. the spices and draw out the flavor. Sort for size. Limewater gives crispness to Use right ingredients and measure unfermented pickles such as pickled accurately. watermelon rind. Follow directions exactly. ABOUT EQUIPMENT Store pickles- -sealed airtight- -in a cool, dry, dark place. For cooked of enamelware, RIGHT IHGREDIEHTS aluminum, or stainless steel to Use a good, heat acid pickling clear, standard liquids. vinegar--free from sediment- -one with Don't use a 4 to 6 percent of copper kettle. acetic acid. This And don't use a is stronger than the galvanized pail. Harmful substances standard vinegar of and undesirable colors may occur 15 to 20 years ago, with salts and acids. which had about 3 percent acetic For brining, you'll need a crock or acid. For that rea­ stone jar; a clean, thin, white cloth:; a : son, pickles made heavy plate or round board cut to fit in­ by old recipes may side of the crock and coated with paraffin; be µiore sour. clean stones or paraffined bricks to hold cover down. Pure granulated or medium granulated salts make the best products. If you can't For quick dills and others .such as get any of these pure salts, you can use brined beans, corn relish, and cucumber table salt. But you may not get as good .re­ slices, a water-bath canner, homemade sults because of the carbonates or bi ­ or ready-made, is necessary. Any big, carbonates of sodium, calcium, or mag­ clean vessel will do if it's deep enough nesium added to table salt to pr event to let the water boil well over the tops of lumping. With table salt use the amounts jars and if it has a good lid and a rack to called for in the recipe s . keep jars from touching bottom. Rack may be of wire or wood. If possible, have Use whole spices for mos t partitions to keep jars from touching one cooked pickles. They keep flavor longer. another or falling against the side of the And they can be tied in a cloth to cook canner. 2 Jars for pickles must seal airtight. First step, fit Left in a crock or capped with paraffin, hot, wet rubber pickles are likely to mold and turn soft. ring on ledge at top ' of empty, hot jar. Use a jar with a glass lid, such as the wire-bail type or a mason jar with For quick dills and others processed three-piece lid. (See below.) Sharp, in water bath, fill jar to within 1/2 inch acid foods like pickles will eat into the of top. Wipe off any spilled food with metal if they are in direct contact with clean, hot, damp cloth. Put on hot glass it. lid. Push wire on top of lid so it fits into groove. Leave short wire up. After pro­ Use only perfect jars. Discard cessing jars of food in boiling-water bath, chipped, cracked, warped ones; dented, push short wire quickly down to complete bent lids. Use clean, new rubber rings seal. of the right size for your jars. Don't test by stretching. For other pickles, not processed, fill jar to top, wipe off any spilled food, Scrub in hot, sudsy water all neces - seal tightly. sary equipment including jars, glass lids, metal screw caps, and rubber rings. Picture shows glass lid and top-seal Scrub new rubber rings with a brush; rubber ring, held in boil 10 minutes in 1 quart water and 1 place by metal tablespoon baking soda for each dozen screw band, to fit rings. Rinse well. Use fresh soda water standard mason for each lot. This may help to keep jars. rings from flavoring food. For products Place clean jars, lids, and caps in processed in water warm water and bring to boil. Dip rub­ bath, fill jar to ber rings into boiling water just before within 1/2 inch of fitting on hot jars or lids. top. Wipe off any spilled food with a To sterilize jars, lids: If jars of clean, hot, damp cloth. Fit hot rubber food are not to be processed, i.e., ring on hot glass lid. Put lid on jar with heated in a boiling-water bath, boil rubber side down. Screw metal band on jars and lids 15 to 20 minutes just be­ tight; then, using thumb as guide, turn fore packing with pickles. back almost a quarter turn, or so that band and jar just mesh together. (Cau­ ~ G-v.ss tion : If band is screwed too tight, jar FILL JARS AND SEAL ~~LIi) may break.) After processing jars of food in boiling-water bath, screw band Wire-bail type down tight at once. ? jar is sealed with glass lid and rubber For other pickles, not processed, ring held in place fill jar to top, wipe off any spilled food. by wire bail. Fit rubber ring on hot glass lid. Put lid on jar with rubber side down; screw metal band on tight. 3 ~ t~~{'/'""() FRUIT PICKLES ~UCUMBER PICKLES ~~ Pineapple Pickles Quick Dills* l fresh pineapple ( 4 to 6 cups) 1/2 gallon or 2 pounds 4-inch 2 cups sugar cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise 2 cups water 3 heads dill (fresh or dried) l cup vinegar 1/2 teaspoonful peppercorns l stick cinnamon, 2 inches long 3 tablespoons salt 2 to 4 whole cloves l to 1-1/2 cups vinegar Dash of salt l to 1-1/2 cups water Peel pineapple and cut crosswise into Garlic, if desired 1-inch thick slices. Remove core and cut Wash and cut cucumbers. Combine into sections about l inch wide. Mix sugar salt, vinegar, and water and bring to a and water in saucepan; add pineapple boil. Pack cucumbers into hot jars. Put pieces and boil for about 10 minutes. Re­ in dill and peppercorns (and l or 2 cloves move pineapple. To the sirup, add vine - of garlic in each jar). Pour in boiling gar and spices. Boil until sirup is thick­ pickle solution, adjust lid. Process in ened. Add pineapple back into sirup and boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Label boil for about 5 minutes. Pour into hot and store in cool, dark storeroom. sterilized jars and seal. Yield: 3 pints . Yield: l to 1-1/2 pints. *For brined dills or green tomatoes, see Pickle and Relish Recipes, U.S.D.A. Sweet Mango Relish Leaflet 269 (March 1950), p. 6. l quart chopped green mangos 2 large onions Sweet Dill Pickles 6 sweet red peppers ·2 large hot peppers 2-quart jar of dill pickles l cup vinegar 1-1/4 cups cider vinegar 4 cups sugar 1-1/ 2 cups water l tablespoon salt 4 cups sugar l tablespoon white mustard seed l teaspoon tumeric l tablespoon celery seed 1-1/2 tablespoons pickling spice 2 cups raisins {optional) Cut dill pickles crosswise into 3/4- Peel green mangos, cut from seed, inch slices. Mix and heat vinegar, water, chop or put through coarse blade of food sugar, tumeric, and pickling spice. Pour chopper, enough to make 1 quart. Chop heated, spiced sirup over pickle slices or grind onions, sweet peppers, and hot and let stand several hours or overnight. peppers. Mix other seasonings, vinegar, Drain off liquid, reheat, and again pour and raisins. Combine all ingredients. over pickles. This process may be re­ Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes. Let peated two or three times. Put pickle stand overnight. Next morning cook slices in hot sterilized jar; strain out until slightly thickened. Pack boiling spices from hot sirup and pour sirup hot and seal. over pickles. Seal. Yield: 6 to 8 pints. Yield: 1-1/2 to 2 pints. 4 Bread and Butter Pickles ture; bring to boil. Add vegetables, and simmer about 30 minutes. Remove 12 medium- sized cucumbers spice bag.