good pickling recipe for Jalapenos:

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Caligula1

Awesome, for some reason making pickles has always scared me a little. I wish I knew someone who did it so I could sit in and watch sometime.
When I was a kid my grandparents knew someone that made pickled green beans they were yummy!!!

I do do an asian pickled green beans. Pickling is really easy, but I have to admit it can take several years to get the secret of pickling cukes down. The recipes are ease, it is keeping them firm that is hard.

Nita

[stone-ground]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I do do an asian pickled green beans. Pickling is really easy, but I have to admit it can take several years to get the secret of pickling cukes down. The recipes are ease, it is keeping them firm that is hard.Nita

Anyone willing to share their secrets?

Thanks for your recipe mnita, going to try pickling some jalepenos, now that you guys have me in the mood.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by stone-ground

Anyone willing to share their secrets?

Thanks for your recipe mnita, going to try pickling some jalepenos, now that you guys have me in the mood.

Pretty much the secret for us has been: making sure the cukes are really fresh and keeping the boiling temps at 180 to 185 degrees.

Here is the recipe I have been usuing the past couple of years, it has worked perfectly for sour or dills. I have another one (which is pretty much my own) for sweet and sour spicy cukes. I will send that as well if you like it.

NIta

Basic dills or sour: I am not going to go through every detail like the recipe does, I think most of it is self explanatory. By the way, the book I got this from is called: Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda Amendt. I have found most the recipes really good.

7 lbs pickling cukes (about 30)
3 quarts ditilled water (make sure you use distilled)
1./2 cup pickling or kosher salt
3 cups distilled white vinegar (I don't know of any other kind except distilled)
3/4 Cup of sugar (don't use that much, we don't like them sweet)
dill seeds, mustard seeds, celery seeds and coriander seeds (about 1 to 2 tsp of each
16 springs fresh dill or more

Wash and clean cukes in cold water. remove the blossom end (about 1/8 of an inch)

heat the water and add salt. When salt is dissolved, pour mixture over cukes. I usually have to use a couple of containers as the cukes have to be completely covered. Put a plate or something over cukes to make sure they are covered completely. Let sit for 24 hours. Drain and rinse well. Rinse the container so there is no salt residue and return the cukes to the container. Cover with cold water and let sit for 20 minutes or so. Then rinse again. set them aside while you prepare the brine.

In a large pan combine vinegar and sugar: heat over med heat and stir til sugar is dissolved. Place all the spices in a piece of cheesecloth or spice bag and tie together. Place them in the vinegar solution; heat til boiling and boil about 5 minutes. Pour the mixture over the cukes after disposing of spice bag. Again cover and make sure the cukes are completely submerged. Let sit for 24 hours. Pour the syrup into a pan and heat to boiling. While doing that fill your jars with cukes, add syrup allowing 1/4 to 1/2 inch head space. add a few dill springs to each jar. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the jars. Seal and place jars in canner. heat to about 180 degrees; allow to bath for about 30 minutes whether doing pints of quarts.

I hope this works for all of you. By the way, I know many who still use the lime powder but I do not think it does one thing. If you prefer you can and probably can skip some of the letting the cukes sit for so long. I have just had better luck this way.

Nita

[stone-ground]

Thanks again nmnita~appreciated!

[figmalt]

Use calcium chloride rather than pickling salt in your recipe. It will help keep your vegetables crisp. (Calcium chloride is a salt). We find ours at the local home brew/wine making shop. Alum and Lime (calcium hydroxide) will aid in keeping vegetables firm.