Making crispy pickles

[comfortablynumb]

I ran into that problem this year.... how to make the pickles crispy.

I found the Low-Temperature Pasteurization treatment.  It keeps the pickles nice and crispy.

www.healthycanning.com/low-temperature-pasteurization-treatment/

nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/low_temp_pasteur.html

[feather]

Yes, that low pasteurization technique helps! You can also lime your pickles, you soak them in the lime, then you soak them in water to remove the lime (a couple times) and it changes the cell walls so they remain more crispy.

[Deleted]

Grape leaves, one on bottom of jar, 1 on top like a canopy....James

[Cabin Fever]

Or, if you're into chemicals, there is always Ball Pickle Crisp.

[feather]

Aug 11, 2017 15:30:43 GMT Cabin Fever said:

Or, if you're into chemicals, there is always Ball Pickle Crisp.

Ball Pickle Crisp is Calcium Chloride (CaCl2), which is available on Amazon for about $7.00/lb. This is also used in cheese making, used for pasteurized milk, to replace the Calcium that was denatured during pasteurization, and it helps to set the curd (with rennet).

Chemicals for a better life.

[comfortablynumb]

I tried the pickle crisp... I thought it gave the pickles an off flavor.

[aftermidnite]

For last couple years I have been using pickle crisp on any pickled stuff with great success..

Before any pickled items were limp and mushy..

Daughter is now bragging and sharing pickles....okra ....green beans ...asparagus ..with her future in laws and that side of the new family..

I haven't noticed an off flavor but will keep it in mind in case someone has a complaint ...

[feather]

It's that pickling time of year again. A good reminder of all the ways to make crispier pickles.

I have a little over 6 lbs of cucumbers soaking in water, to make pickles tomorrow. Since they are sweet pickles, they get sliced tomorrow and soaked in a salt brine for 2 hours, then ready for making pickles.

[Deleted]

Pick in the morning while it is cool, cool well and start the process quickly....James

[citybound]

I salted them then ice bathed them in the fridge for a few hours. came out crispy.
I find results differ each year.

[paquebot]

Like citybound says, different from year to year and no explanation. We still have some from around 1980 which are as crisp as when canned. If dye used, still green but otherwise gray-brown. Past two batches of bread 'n butter have used the same basic recipe. One is crunchy crisp and the other needs to be eaten with a spoon. And, we've used Pickle Crisp for as long as I can remember.

Martin

[Ozarks Tom]

Our best crispy pickle processing is also the easiest. Simply slice and stuff in jars, make and heat the brine, while the brine is still really hot, fill the jars. Screw the lids down tight, and turn upside down. As the brine cools, the lids will seal.

About half the jars we'll throw in a habanero pepper, and mark them "spicy dills", and that's truth in advertising.

[Deleted]

Jul 27, 2018 1:38:49 GMT Tallpines said:

Jul 26, 2018 16:49:56 GMT @jwal10 said:

Pick in the morning while it is cool, cool well and start the process quickly....James

@jwal10 ,

Please,  tell me the rest of your process.
(and ingredients)

Pick in the morning, early, before sunup. Put in the spring house until ready. Favorite is bread and butter. 1/3 cucumbers, 1/3 onion, 1/3 bell peppers by volume. Pickling spices, vinegar and water. Heat to boiling. Grape leaf in bottom of each jar. Jar while boiling, using canning funnel, top with liquid. Grape leaf flat on top, cut to size, ring and lid each as filled. Set on wood cutting board, upright, towel over the top. Remove to fruit house after cooling....James

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2018 14:57:35 GMT feather said:

It's that pickling time of year again. A good reminder of all the ways to make crispier pickles.

I have a little over 6 lbs of cucumbers soaking in water, to make pickles tomorrow. Since they are sweet pickles, they get sliced tomorrow and soaked in a salt brine for 2 hours, then ready for making pickles.

I never soak cucumbers, just wash in cold water....James

[Deleted]

Any one ever used powdered alum? Grandma used it in a lot of her pickles. I use it in her Mustard pickle recipe, because she did and I wanted them to be the same as hers. I opened a jar, canned in 1968 a couple years ago, still crisp. She used (and I use) the glass top bail jars with the red rubber gaskets for them. 2 years in a regular metal lid and they will be rusted through, never have used the new reusable plastic lids for mustard pickles.


Also good for canker sores but it will make your eyes water.


We used liquid alum at the city water plant to coagulate sediment so it dropped to the bottom of the sedimentation tank. Sure made a slick mess when you hosed the tank out....James