Hola readers!
I have resigned myself to the fact that I will not be able to catch up on Friday's post, so I will simply write another post one day after the year is up. That makes sense to me (although if it breaks the rules for you, let me know).
Today is a busy one - and you may have guessed that it is full of preserving vegetables by the age-old process of pickling.
Pickling is a process of preventing all bacteria from growing by the use of three potential preserving agents - vinegar, salt and sugar. Vinegar is a relatively weak acid produced from ethanol (it is sometimes referred to as ethanoic or acetic acid). It is made by fermeting ethanol with acetic acid bacteria (which has itself been fermented from sugar by yeast). Vinegar has a pH that is low enough to prevent growth of bacteria and fungus on foods.
Salt is probably the oldest preserving agent there is. In sufficient quantities it prevents the growth of any nasty microbes. It is also a useful agent in extracting water from foods in a process known as osmosis. Science is literally delicious!
Sugar may seem to be an odd preserving agent, but if you look at most soft-drinks (with a sugar content between 8-12%) you will notice that they don't have any preservatives - there sugar content is too high for anything to grow.
On top of all of this a combination of all three abovementioned preservatives will give you the very best protection.
When pickling, you need to remember that you are trying to keep bacteria out. Bacterial spores travel through the air, and they will be covering everything that you want to preserve (plus your hands, plus your utensils). Because of this you are going to want to follow a few procedures. Firstly, use enough of your preservative. Secondly, sterilise your jars.
If you are following a preserve recipe, you should be right. If, on the other hand like myself most of the time you aren't using a recipe, there is a rule of thumb that you can follow - make your pickling mixture too sour and too sweet/salty. If I am making a sweet recipe (like bread and butter pickles), I will add 2 or so tablespoons of salt to the vinegar/sugar mix just for luck.
Sterilising the jars is really quite simple - you heat the jars to a point where the bacteria literally die or become inactive. You can do this by filling them with boiling water (but make sure to put a spoon into the jar to prevent it from cracking), or put water into the jars and placing them (on a baking tray) into a relatively cool (>120*C) oven for at least 30 minutes. I use the boiling water method, because my mother has always used it and it has never failed.
The jars themselves can come in a huge variety of shapes and styles. You can recycle jars that other bought items have come in - just wash them thoroughly (but don't put jam into an old pickle jar - it will cause the jam to taste like pickles).
REMEMBER: if your preserves show signs of bubbling/fizzing or the pop-top of the jar has risen, it means that bacteria are growing. DO NOT EAT IT.
Once you have done all of the above, and have a pile of jars with your own produce in them, the last thing I am going to tell you is to wait. Jams and conserves can be eaten once cool, but you really need to give at least 24 hours for pickled items (but give them up to 2 weeks for ultimate taste).
OK - Recipe time. I have three seperate ones, all to do with pickling (in honour of today's theme).
Pickled Onions
Brining Solution:
100g table salt per litre of water.
Peel 1kg of pickling onions. Place into brining solution for 24 hours (keep all onions under the level of the water. Drain, rinse and pat dry. Place into sterilised jars with 2cm space at top.
Pickling Solution:
1 litre of any vinegar (with at least 5% acidity).
Sugar and spices to taste
Heat the vinegar and spices and boil for 2-3 minutes. Cool.
Add cooled vinegar to the onions, and place a gently crumpled ball of baking paper on top (so that the onions stay under the liguid). put the top on, and leave for 2 days before removing paper. Eat after 4 weeks in pickling solution.
Bread and Butter Pickles
500mL fresh young cucumbers (the fresher the better)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 Tbs salt
1/4 cup hot water
Pickling Liquid
1 cup white/apple cider vinegar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
Optional: 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
Finely slice cucumbers. Place into bowl with onion. Mix water and salt and pour over vegetables. Leave for 3 hours. Pour into a strainer and push down to remove as much liquid as possible.
In a saucepan place all pickling liquid ingredients. Mix and boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring once or twice. Place the cucumbers and onion into the solution and simmer for 3 minutes, and cool. Spoon into sterilised jars. Leave for at least 48 hours before eating.
Pickled Chillies
Whole small chillies
Vinegar
Pickling spice
Sugar
Salt
Cut top off chillies, and place into a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. Strain ans rinse in cold water.
Make the pickling solution by adding salt and sugar to taste (remember to make it a bit too salty and sweet). Add 1 tsp pickling spice. Boil for 2-3 minutes.
Place chillies into sterilised jar with the cut tops pointing upwards. Add the vinegar, ensure that there are no floaters (if there are just put a piece of crumpled baking paper into the top). Leave for 48 hours.
Happy Pickling!
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