anyone have any recipes for kitchen pickles? Mine dont have a very good crunch to them and I want to fix that. I think my cucumbers have been shitty or the wrong kind.

8/21/2009 10:36:44 PM

some motherfuckers ate all teh pickles in my kitchen

8/21/2009 10:38:32 PM

can you give us your recipe and then maybe we can critique or fix it?

8/22/2009 2:06:02 AM

Add some Alum. Its in the spices section and made specifically for crisping pickles. About a tsp for every quart.

8/22/2009 2:14:23 AM

i like when they get soft personally. i like to use the big salad cukes or english instead of kirby or anything smaller... just salt and pepper liberally and let them stew in their own juice so to speak.

8/22/2009 4:53:32 AM

I have used the pickle recipe from Good Eats with some decent success. Kinda sorta sours.

8/22/2009 1:44:00 PM

my mom suggested Alum.

I need to find some.

Also they turn out ok and some are crisp which works

heres the recipe.

- 1 quart water - boiled and let cool.
- 3 to 4 table spoons of salt added while water is hot
-3/4 cup vinegar. (i used cider)
- lots and lots of garlic
- pepper corns and other spices

I also add a few slices of whatever peppers I have in the fridge.

that normally fills up two ball jars with cucumbers in them.

I also found pickling cucumbers today which might work better. not sure.

8/22/2009 4:11:01 PM

i'm not familiar with kitchen pickles. are there such things as patio pickles or bathroom pickles, cus if not i'm not sure why you'd have to specify what room the pickles are in

8/22/2009 4:43:14 PM

they're just pickles you dont process.

8/22/2009 4:50:36 PM

Not sure if you'd call this pickling, but this is what I've been doing this summer with
the pickling cucumbers from the garden:

slice up cucumbers maybe into 1/4" slices, Put into tupperware container.

Add a splash of white rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar (Tsp each?)
Add some spices (basil, salt, pepper, oregano)

Fill container with water. Let sit in fridge all day.

Fish out the cukes, works great as a side for a meal or a healthy snack.

8/22/2009 5:43:06 PM

Go to grocery store.

Purchase Mt. Olive pickles.

Place in kitchen.

8/22/2009 8:43:26 PM

My grandmother taught me to can pickles. She swears by the recipe similar to ^^^^^ Make sure you don't forget the Alum. It can be found at most of the upper tier grocery stores (**read** not Food Lion) like Harris Teeter. I believe its McCormick or something like that. Small bottle about an inch and a half high. Weird thing, I don't believe that alum is used for anything other than making pickles crispy. What a country we live in...

Also, she cleans them by sticking them with a towel into a washing machine and running it through the "water cycle." Hey, whatever she does I will follow. She makes some of the best damn pickles out there.

8/25/2009 10:37:52 AM

Fruit and Veggie wash

* 1 cup water
* 1 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1 tablespoon baking soda
* 20 drops grapefruit seed extract (available at Whole Foods or your local health food store or you can substitute lemon juice in a pinch)
*

Combine all ingredients in a large container. Then, transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce (avoid using on mushrooms), let sit 5 to 10 minutes and rinse.

8/25/2009 12:02:24 PM

8/25/2009 1:21:39 PM

yall dont like soft pickles eh

8/25/2009 7:35:39 PM

Quote :

"The potassium-based alum has been used to produce crisp cucumber and watermelon-rind pickles as well as maraschino cherries, where the aluminum ions strengthen the fruits' cell-wall pectins. Alum is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a food additive, but in large quantities — well, an ounce or more — it is toxic to humans. As a result, efforts have been made and are being made to wean us of our alum dependency. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that if good quality produce and modern canning methods are employed, there is no need to use alum to bolster the crispness of our pickles and cherries. In any event, the department says, even if alum is used to soak the pickles, it should not be used in the final pickling liquid."

8/25/2009 9:09:55 PM

^I would have to eat my entire stash of pickles and drink the pickling juice to get the equivalent of about 2 oz of Alum. So that brings up the question.. in order for them to figure out 1 oz is toxic, someone had to EAT an entire ounce of that nasty white powder.

Now, I'm not going to say its good for you, but with less than a teaspoon per jar (and its not like you're drinking the juice afterwards - unless you're like my mom) I would think that small amount should be alright. Hell, if its good enough for my grandma, its good enough for me. Either way, use at your own risk.

Nice catch though. I would have never known...

8/25/2009 11:34:18 PM

Yeah I looked it up only because I had never heard of alum before and was curious what it actually was

8/26/2009 12:53:03 AM

Quote :

"i'm not familiar with kitchen pickles. are there such things as patio pickles or bathroom pickles, cus if not i'm not sure why you'd have to specify what room the pickles are in"

8/27/2009 9:11:46 AM