BASIC PICKLED JALAPEÑO PEPPERS
PICKLED CARROTS AND DAIKON RADISH COINS
SWEET-AND-SOUR PICKLED RED ONIONS
I GREW UP IN A HOUSEHOLD THAT APPRECIATED ITS pickles. As a kid, one of my favorite after-school snacks was a garlicky cucumber dill, fished from the jar using a fork and two fingers. I’d slowly nibble away at the pickle over my book of the moment, until all I had left was the stem end of the cucumber and wrinkly, vinegar-scented fingers.
As a child, I was taught by my parents that there are hard-and-fast rules regarding the construction of a quality sandwich. An essential tenet of this philosophy is that no good sandwich is complete without an interior layer of thinly sliced sour pickles, blotted almost dry. Thanks to this early conditioning, I cannot be satisfied by a sandwich that does not include a tart, crunchy component.
In recent years, I’ve spent time exploring the world beyond the cucumber pickle and have discovered that there are few vegetables that don’t appreciate liberal applications of vinegar, salt, and spices. Of all the pickles I make, I think my very favorite is the rarely-found-in-grocery-stores dilly bean. Green beans have the internal fortitude to stand up to the heat of a boiling water bath and retain an amazing crispness even many months after they are made. I particularly like placing a few alongside a hot dog at summer cookouts.
Before you dig into the recipes in this section, there are a few things you should know. One is that the salt is included in these recipes because it helps with the preservation of the vegetable. I know it may seem like a lot, but it’s vital to the integrity of the recipe. Please don’t reduce it.
You’ll notice that some of these recipes call for just five minutes of time in the boiling water bath. This shorter processing time helps maintain the crisp texture of the finished pickle. However, when you process for less than ten minutes, you have to make sure you’re working with sterilized jars. To do this, boil the jars in your canner for at least ten minutes prior to packing and filling. Remove the jars from the canner just before you’re ready to fill them to help preserve their state of hyper cleanliness.
You’ll find that a large part of your pickle success will depend on the jars you choose. I’ve found that regular-mouth jars work better for pickles than wide-mouth jars. This is because the shoulders of regular-mouth jars help keep the pickles submerged in the brine. A wide-mouth jar has no narrowing sides that prevent your vegetables from floating. While there isn’t anything essentially wrong with a floating pickle (it happens to the best of us), fully submerged pickles are more immune to discoloration and reduction in quality. Plus, they just look better.
To make the brine, all of these recipes work with a ratio of one part vinegar to one part water. To ensure a safe product, you must start with vinegar that has been diluted so that its acidity is 5 percent. Most commercial vinegars will say this on the package, but it’s important to check to be safe. This does mean that using homemade or artisanal vinegars is not recommended for pickles that you plan on canning for shelf stability.
Many of these recipes will direct you to “bubble” your jars after filling them but before sealing them. This is a process in which you either tap the jar gently on a towel-lined countertop or use a wooden chopstick to help dislodge any trapped pockets of air. You want to remove these bubbles before putting the lids on the jars, as they’ll then try to escape during the boiling water bath process and will take some of your brine with them. The reason to use a wooden implement is that it greatly reduces the risk that you’ll scratch the interior of your jar. Over time, scratches made by metal utensils can wear down the jars and lead to breakage.