Canning Stuff.

[Hilbilly]

This puzzled me when I heard that dill pickles go bad, because mine never do. I think the difference may be that I crock ferment mine, which digests all the sugars. I just had a 3 year old dill for lunch, and it was just as crisp and sour as the day it was canned.

I've never tried crock fermented pickles but might some day. Only issue for me is the time that would be involved. Pickling is quick and easy. I am usually camping and fishing in the summer and come home occasionally to check on the garden, harvest what is ready and pickle some cukes. Then it is back to the campsite. Not sure if that sort of approach would work with fermented pickles. I would like to try eating one just to compare the end results.

I used to make sauerkraut but my wife won't eat it so I ended up just giving the crocks away and just buy a little now and then. I much prefer the homemade results though. Same with the pickles. I find most store bought pickles are way to salty for my liking.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I've never tried crock fermented pickles but might some day. Only issue for me is the time that would be involved. Pickling is quick and easy. I am usually camping and fishing in the summer and come home occasionally to check on the garden, harvest what is ready and pickle some cukes. Then it is back to the campsite. Not sure if that sort of approach would work with fermented pickles. I would like to try eating one just to compare the end results.

I used to make sauerkraut but my wife won't eat it so I ended up just giving the crocks away and just buy a little now and then. I much prefer the homemade results though. Same with the pickles. I find most store bought pickles are way to salty for my liking.

Brine fermented pickles are pretty salty, so you may be better off processing what you like. Fermenting takes weeks, but other than skimming the top every day or so there is nothing to do except put them in the crock at the beginning and can them at the end. If you have a cool spot, they will last for about 3 months without being canned at all. In the olden days, markets would have a pickle barrel and customers would just fish pickles out with tongs.

If you want to experiment, a gallon jar will get you there. The Ball Blue Book has the dill recipe I use. I do not use the brined pickles. Like salt cured ham, they have to be rinsed before they are edible. The recipe I use starts with less salt and a little vinegar to give the acidophilus an edge. I like a pickle with kick, so add hot peppers and garlic in addition to the dill and pickling spice. The pickled peppers are good too. If I have green beans, I will add them to the crock and can them separately.

Once they are working good, add a tsp. of the brine to your sourdough starter.

 

[jyoutz]

Brine fermented pickles are pretty salty, so you may be better off processing what you like. Fermenting takes weeks, but other than skimming the top every day or so there is nothing to do except put them in the crock at the beginning and can them at the end. If you have a cool spot, they will last for about 3 months without being canned at all. In the olden days, markets would have a pickle barrel and customers would just fish pickles out with tongs.

If you want to experiment, a gallon jar will get you there. The Ball Blue Book has the dill recipe I use. I do not use the brined pickles. Like salt cured ham, they have to be rinsed before they are edible. The recipe I use starts with less salt and a little vinegar to give the acidophilus an edge. I like a pickle with kick, so add hot peppers and garlic in addition to the dill and pickling spice. The pickled peppers are good too. If I have green beans, I will add them to the crock and can them separately.

Once they are working good, add a tsp. of the brine to your sourdough starter.

We usually do refrigerator pickles using Mrs Wages mix. There is so much vinegar brine that they keep for months in the refrigerator.

 

[mapper]

Brine fermented pickles are pretty salty, so you may be better off processing what you like. Fermenting takes weeks, but other than skimming the top every day or so there is nothing to do except put them in the crock at the beginning and can them at the end. If you have a cool spot, they will last for about 3 months without being canned at all. In the olden days, markets would have a pickle barrel and customers would just fish pickles out with tongs.

If you want to experiment, a gallon jar will get you there. The Ball Blue Book has the dill recipe I use. I do not use the brined pickles. Like salt cured ham, they have to be rinsed before they are edible. The recipe I use starts with less salt and a little vinegar to give the acidophilus an edge. I like a pickle with kick, so add hot peppers and garlic in addition to the dill and pickling spice. The pickled peppers are good too. If I have green beans, I will add them to the crock and can them separately.

Once they are working good, add a tsp. of the brine to your sourdough starter.

We make ours in 1/2 gallon Mason jars with a fermentation lock. They take about 2 weeks to work off. After they are done fermenting, I put a plastic Mason jar lid on them, this avoids rusting rings, and place them in a refrigerator. They are good for about 2 years this way.
I also make chili, garlic and ginger paste this way, I have some that are about 4 years old that are still good.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I no longer do crock dills or sauer kraut, I'm on a low salt diet and would rather not have all that much salt added to it.

SR

 

[cqaigy2]

I've never fermented pickles, but the best pickle i've ever had was a fermented dill. Neighbor used to do fermented pickling, it had amazing taste.

 

[Yander]

We have frozen, snow peas, zucchini and corn. I canned 7 quarts of tomatoes for first batch and working on collecting more for a second batch. I didn't plant enough tomatoes this year. I will fix that next year. Next year I'm doubling or tripling my sweet corn patch and doubling my tomatoes and snow peas.

I had other things that took priority this year. I gave away half my corn to the kids and they froze it, I'm happy about that. I have a 24cu ft. freezer and it is jammed full of meat, veggies and fruit. I could go close to a year without buying food if I had to. I also have a wall of the garage about half full of canned food. We have been trying to eat out of the pantry/freezer since I don't want it to go bad.

We too eat what we store, we aren't preppers per say but we aren't ill prepared either. We also have chickens so as long as I can keep them safe/healthy we are good to go here.

I think yall better be stocking up, call it prepping if you want. Whatever floats your tug, but you better have six months stored. We are only at the beginning of the food supply issue. Wait until next year or this winter. I hope I'm wrong though. There will likely be food but you may not be able to afford it by the time it is said and done.

Already prices are doubling and tripling for things. Farmers are struggling in a lot of regions and when they are struggling it has a trickle down affect. We better start taking care of our farmers but I fear that by the time we learn that it is going to be too late. This isn't a fast mistake to recover from either.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I have noticed that with ample canned and frozen food, I am eating on last year's prices. That wasn't the plan, but it worked out that way.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I have noticed that with ample canned and frozen food, I am eating on last year's prices. That wasn't the plan, but it worked out that way.

We are doing the same with a mix of freeze dried and canned from the garden produce.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Post cannum, we ended up with 9 gallons of assorted tomato sauce, some seasoned with fresh garlic and onions, some seasoned with fresh garden herbs, and some straight. The 5 gallon crock of pickles was a failure. It ended up tasting OK but the pickles were limp. I must have missed a blossom end or something, but canning them would have been futile. The 4 gallon crock made great pickles, and canned up at 9 quarts.

To relieve the boredom of retirement and the pain in my grocery budget, I realized that I could make my own breakfast burritos for a fraction of what I pay in the store. I browned a big pan of bibble and squibb (potatoes, onions, sausage, cheese, eggs) and rolled it into 8 burrito sized tacos. Pull one out of the freezer, give it 2 minutes in the microwave, and there's breakfast. Everything but the coffee.

A while back I bought an 18 lb. whole rib package, sliced it into 20 steaks, four roasts, and some stew meat. Dinner last night was steak with creamed peas and potatoes. The steaks were about 10 oz., so I figure dinner was about $3/plate. Not bad for a beer budget meal.

We had venison heart for stew, so the beef stew meat went into Philly cheese steak sandwiches. One of the things that drives me nuts is that a good Philly is almost impossible to find here in Oregon. I don't know why. It's not rocket science. Screw 'em. I'll make my own.

Another favorite this week was pastrami Reubens, featuring home fermented sauerkraut and home made caraway rye. The pastrami was discounted ends and pieces left over from the machine slicer. We had friends over for that one, and the beer cost more than the meal. I may have to extend my fermenting to the beer. I have carboys, but am not set up for bottling.