About a month ago, I was at a party . . . and one of my friends was there with homemade dill pickles. They were amazing! Soaked in a brine with garlic and peppercorns and dill . . . I couldn't get enough of them. And she made it sound so simple . . .
A few weeks later, I found myself at the downtown farmer's market.
Faced with this abundance, I knew I had to try making pickles! So I bought a bunch of pickling cucumbers, and some fresh garlic, and followed my friend's advice: cut, layer with fresh garlic, peppercorns, mustard seed, and dill, and soak in a brine that's one part salt to seven parts water. I made sure the pickles were completely submerged, and let them soak for a week before moving them to the fridge.
They looked pretty . . .
But they tasted AWFUL!! I think that 1 part salt to 7 parts water is well, little too salty. I tried to save them by changing the brine, but it was too late! So, after googling pickling recipes (which I should've done in the first place) I'm want to try it again, but with less salt, and adding a little sugar and vinegar to the brine mix.
Does anyone have a great fridge pickle recipe they want to share?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
In a Pickle
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5 comments:
hee hee! thank you for blogging about your experiments as well as your successes. i'm sure sister diane will chime in at some point, but in the meantime here's the post i remember from craftypod about pickling:
http://www.craftypod.com/?p=238
CHIIIIIIIIIIME! :-)
I just made these: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1836,149166-247206,00.html and they turned out tasty. I left out the alum. The onions imparted a nice flavor, and are supposedly good to eat, but I haven't been able to bring myself to yet. I got one of those huge dill plants at the store and used the leaves, flowers, and all.
For the record, our first batch of the season didn't work well at all. If you're out of white vinegar, don't sub with cider vinegar. Not the same at all from a pickle-standpoint! :-)
Bridget, I have no sage advice on making pickles, but your post sure brought back memories of the wonderfully zesty garicly pickles my Grandma Tormey used to make! Yum yum - and good luck with your next batch!
I was at that party and remember the yummy pickles. So sorry it didn't work out for you this time.
A secret weapon you may want to try in a few jars... a cinnamon stick. Don't know why, but somehow it adds warmth to the vinegar tingle. (hey, that's a good band name... The Vinegar Tingles). anyhoo! A cinnamon stick!
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