Pickling
"Pickled" or "Pickling." Any food can be pickled, but a "PICKLE" used as a NOUN refers to a pickled CUCUMBER. There are pickled vegetables of all types, as well as various pickled fish, etc.
Pickling is one of the oldest methods of preserving foods. Pickling is the preserving of food in an acid (usually vinegar), and it is this acid environment that prevents undesirable bacteria growth. However, how and what kind of acid gets into the liquid is what can cause some confusion about the use of salt.
Most pickled foods are salted or soaked in brine first to draw out moisture that would dilute the acid that is added to 'pickle' the food.
1)
Vinegar can be added directly to the liquid that the food is placed in.
2) The food can be place in brine (salt and water) - this is what causes confusion. Even though it may seem that pickling can be done with either an acid (vinegar, etc) or salt, that is not strictly true. That is because the amount of salt in the solution is carefully measured to allow natural fermentation which produces lactic acid. So pickled foods that are made with brine (salt and water) are really made with an acid- - but instead of directly adding acid, conditions are created so that the fermentation creates its own acid! This is a tricky process because just enough salt needs to be added to prevent the growth of undesirable bacteria, and the correct temperature maintained, to still allow the growth of several specific bacteria that produce lactic acid.
3) Some cucumber pickles are made with a combination of both methods. They are soaked in a strong brine with vinegar added in specific proportions so that they still ferment and produce additional acid (lactic acid).
http://www.foodreference.com/html/artpickles.html
Howard Karten's Real Pickled (fermented) cucumbers
Summary: Kirby ("bumpy") cucumbers are fermented in a flavored brine for
a week or so, to make real pickles, i.e. naturally-fermented, with no
vinegar.
Ingredients:
firm kirby cucumbers
Basic Brine:
1 quart water
2-4 tablespoons kosher salt (experiment to see what works best for you)
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, smashed with the side of a knife
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon peppercorns
NOTE: The amount of brine you use depends on the number of cucumbers
you're pickling. Make enough brine so that the pickles are at least 5"
below the surface of the brine. (I.e., start with 2 quarts of brine; add
more brine if necessary.)
Instructions
Mix brine.
Wash cucumbers carefully.
Place in a food-grade plastic pail (or a container made of crockery or
glass) and place a heavy plate over them to keep them submerged. (You
can buy a plastic container at most doughnut shops.) Pour brine into the
pail. There should be enough brine to cover the cucumbers with plenty of
room to spare.
Cover the top of the pail loosely, e.g. with a paper bag, to keep out
foreign objects, flies, etc.
Let the pail sit for a week to 10 days in a place that's not too cold,
not too hot. The warmer it is, the sooner the fermentation will be
finished. After about 6 days, check the pickles every day to see if
they're done enough for you.
When pickles are done enough for you, rinse them off and put them in a
glass or plastic container. Fill container with water and a bit of salt
and refrigerate.
Note: this is essentially a biological recipe. The brine pulls sugars
out of the cucumbers, and yeasts growing in the brine digest the sugars
and flavor the cucumbers. Because it's a biological recipe, the length
of time needed for fermentation will vary depending on the surrounding
temperature, the amount of sugar in the cucumbers, etc.
(c) 2003 Howard A. Karten
