Half Sour Pickles
My friend, Pam, made a comment about half sour pickles and you can imagine what happened. I had to know about them and more importantly, I had to make some! The cool thing about these pickles is no vinegar is used; it's preserved in a salt water solution and spices of your choice. The only potential deterrent I encountered is many of the recipes I found said the cucumbers in their salty brine should be left at room temperature for a few days--as in, 65 degrees or so. Yeah, that's not going to happen here. Can we say 'botulism,' boys and girls?
Fortunately, I came across other recipes that allowed for the cucumbers to do their thing in the refrigerator. Much safer. So here we go.
Today's cast.
Sea salt and water were mixed together. I had a Celtic gray sea salt that I have been wanting to use. It's a coarse grind so it took a while to dissolve.
In the meantime, I soaked the cucumbers in ice water. You definitely want to use the pickling cukes or as we call them here, the keiki cucumbers.
I couldn't find coriander seeds. I put black peppercorns, mustard seeds and bay leaves into my mortar.
You want to make sure you do a grinding motion rather than an up and down tap; if you do, the little round spices will glance off of the pestle and fly everywhere.
I didn't want a fine powder, just a rough smash so the flavors could escape into the brine.
I added the crushed spices and some chopped garlic into a glass canning jar.
A number of recipes suggested trimming the blossom end of the cucumber--supposedly it emits an enzyme that makes pickles soggy. Commercial cucumbers aren't trimmed but they are other ways to keep their pickles crisp. I decided to trim them. The stem end is just a slight hole where the fruit was attached to the plant.
The blossom end is the opposite side. This one looked like a hole but it was actually a lighter-colored whorl. I trimmed off less than 1/8" of each cucumber.
The cucumbers are placed in the jar along with enough brine to cover and a few more peppercorns and bay leaves. I also used dried dill. Then the jars were sealed and put in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Confession time: I had a large jar that I intended to give Pam and a smaller jar that I was using to sample the pickles' progress. I was disappointed that a few of the cucumbers that I used in this batch had a sharp, rather bitter aftertaste but the others? Well, I did say I really like cucumbers. And pickles...So I made another batch.
I made the same brine using the Celtic gray sea salt. This time, I decided to add crushed garlic and sliced onions to the brine. I also decided to use pickling spice since it included coriander and mustard seeds and black peppercorns, plus bay leaf, cardamom and cloves.
I added the garlic, onions, spices and brine to a canning jar.
I added the cucumbers and topped off the jars with brine. I also had fresh dill this time so that went in as well. The little one is my sample jar...I promise not to touch the other one!
Half sours are delicious and a great change from the usual vinegary pickles! It's a refreshing snack and very low in calories, too. Thank goodness.
Here is the promised link:
Half Sours
Fortunately, I came across other recipes that allowed for the cucumbers to do their thing in the refrigerator. Much safer. So here we go.
Today's cast.
Sea salt and water were mixed together. I had a Celtic gray sea salt that I have been wanting to use. It's a coarse grind so it took a while to dissolve.
In the meantime, I soaked the cucumbers in ice water. You definitely want to use the pickling cukes or as we call them here, the keiki cucumbers.
I couldn't find coriander seeds. I put black peppercorns, mustard seeds and bay leaves into my mortar.
You want to make sure you do a grinding motion rather than an up and down tap; if you do, the little round spices will glance off of the pestle and fly everywhere.
I didn't want a fine powder, just a rough smash so the flavors could escape into the brine.
I added the crushed spices and some chopped garlic into a glass canning jar.
A number of recipes suggested trimming the blossom end of the cucumber--supposedly it emits an enzyme that makes pickles soggy. Commercial cucumbers aren't trimmed but they are other ways to keep their pickles crisp. I decided to trim them. The stem end is just a slight hole where the fruit was attached to the plant.
The blossom end is the opposite side. This one looked like a hole but it was actually a lighter-colored whorl. I trimmed off less than 1/8" of each cucumber.
The cucumbers are placed in the jar along with enough brine to cover and a few more peppercorns and bay leaves. I also used dried dill. Then the jars were sealed and put in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Confession time: I had a large jar that I intended to give Pam and a smaller jar that I was using to sample the pickles' progress. I was disappointed that a few of the cucumbers that I used in this batch had a sharp, rather bitter aftertaste but the others? Well, I did say I really like cucumbers. And pickles...So I made another batch.
I made the same brine using the Celtic gray sea salt. This time, I decided to add crushed garlic and sliced onions to the brine. I also decided to use pickling spice since it included coriander and mustard seeds and black peppercorns, plus bay leaf, cardamom and cloves.
I added the garlic, onions, spices and brine to a canning jar.
I added the cucumbers and topped off the jars with brine. I also had fresh dill this time so that went in as well. The little one is my sample jar...I promise not to touch the other one!
Half sours are delicious and a great change from the usual vinegary pickles! It's a refreshing snack and very low in calories, too. Thank goodness.
Half Sours
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