Jammin' - Home Canning and Pickling - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Jammin' - Home Canning and Pickling

Pyromancer: Apr 29, 2011; This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

DekeThornton posted:

I asked this in the general questions thread, but got no answer, but maybe it was better suited for this thread, so I'll ask one time more.

I'm thinking of trying pickling something for the first time, cumcumbers in this case, and I wonder what safety precautions are needed when using the following pickling liquid:

1 liter of water
1 dl salt
1 dl of �ttika (24% strength Acetic acid)
2 teaspoons of sugar.

Should be boiled before being poured hot over the cucumbers and spices (dill crowns, horseradish maybe some mustard seeds).

You have both a lot of salt and vinegar, if you plan to eat them right after they're done you can have much less. For lacto-fermented pickles brine could even contain no vinegar at all and it's still work, on other hand pickling in vinegar sometimes uses 6-8% vinegar as brine without adding water. Salt is usually 5-10% in brine, so you also have a lot there. So brine and spices recipes are as creative as it gets, try different things, only start canning once you get one you like.
I personally prefer no vinegar at all and 5% salt in brine, to not get vinegar in the way of the taste of fermented cucumbers and spices. These do need sterilizing about 15 minutes in water bath for canning, although I don't can them usually, just store in fridge and eat.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2012 12:26

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 02:18

Pyromancer: Apr 29, 2011; This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

Mizufusion posted:

Does anyone have any good canning recipes for persimmons? One of my friends has a huge tree in his backyard, but they're not the kind that are good for eating raw. He and his wife don't cook much, so the fruit goes to waste every year. I'd like to put some of it to use, and maybe show them that learning how to cook is a good thing.

Persimmons make nice jam with oranges
1kg persimmons
600g sugar(could be more or less depending on how sweet persimmons are and how sweet you want it)
400g oranges

Remove persimmon skin and seeds, cut into bits, throw in a pot with orange juice, sugar and orange zest(if you want smooth jam blend it), cook for about 20 minutes on medium fire stirring frequently then for 10 more minutes on small fire. Can it immediately afterward, because it'll thicken when it cools down.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2012 19:38

Pyromancer: Apr 29, 2011; This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

MockingQuantum posted:

Namely, the recipes seem very "loose", as in, some just tell you to "submerge in brine" while others specify an amount of water and an amount of salt, some others specify salt but then just say "cover with water" but depending on whether or not she has to split the recipe between multiple jars, the amount of water required would change, which would change the proportions all around. So, how much does it matter? Is there a good rule of thumb for ratio of water/salt/ingredients, or does it vary by the ingredient?

And is there a good way to know when you should do a brine vs a dry salt pickling? And how does lactofermentation differ from brine pickling? She's got some recipes for each in the book that came with the lids but it doesn't at all explain the difference.

Usually you prepare the brine of the concentration according to the recipe, but in quantity enough to submerge all the vegetables, you don't want them contacting with air because that' where it'll spoil instead of pickling. But lab-like precision doesn't matter as much, salt and vinegar concentration can vary a lot according to taste. Rule of thumb for brine I use is 1 tablespoon/liter of water, so, around 1.5-2% salt solution.

Lactofermentation just means you don't have vinegar in there, just salt, and the acidity comes from bacteria breaking down the sugars in the vegetable(or added sugar, some people actually add sugar to their brine)

# ¿ Jan 30, 2020 14:25

Pyromancer: Apr 29, 2011; This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Went ahead and pressure-canned the salsa today; pretty straightforward. The recipe book that came with the canner didn't have rules for cooking tomatoes as a low acid food

Because tomatoes are relatively acidic, even on their own without added acid they'll often be under pH of 4.6 and thus safe from botulism. Acid in the tomato recipes is just a precaution in case you happened to get a batch of particularly low-acid tomatoes with pH of 4.9 or so.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2022 10:14

Pyromancer: Apr 29, 2011; This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

JoshGuitar posted:

If you followed those instructions exactly, nothing would ferment and you'd just have salted cucumbers. Without the fermentation, they'd also be a low-acid food and not safe to water bath. The salt content (once you factor in the weight of the cukes) is about right for fermenting though. Tweaking the recipe the way you did, skipping the water bath and the airtight seal, should make a good fermented pickle.

Yea, that's a strange recipe.
I've seen many recipes that have you rinse or briefly put cucumbers into boiling water. Also boiling the brine and then cooling it.
I think the idea there is to kill the bacteria that may have come from soil or people touching cucumbers, and let the lactic bacteria and yeast from the air repopulate.
But then you're not supposed to seal it - you leave jars open or under cloth, just use weights so cucumbers are submerged in brine.
The recipe mentioning two to four weeks to ferment is also wild, it normally takes 3-4 days at room temp to be noticeably change in taste, and probably after a week it's good to fridge the pickles.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2022 15:31

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 02:18

Pyromancer: Apr 29, 2011; This man must look upon the fire, smell of it, warm his hands by it, stare into its heart

Arkhamina posted:

Can't speak to the specific science, but in general, canned (home or store process) food doesn't go bad for a few years, it just loses nutrients. I have absolutely eaten my own tomato products 3 years later and didn't notice a different. I believe meat sauces are a year?

The oldest I've eaten was a pitless cherry preserve at 16 years in the jar. It lost its red color and was looking brown, but still had cherry flavour intact.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2022 11:03

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