Fermented pickles recipe questions

(Bob M) #61

I used this one:

The amount of sugar is really not that big, but I made two jars one time and put the amount in the recipe in there and also 1/4 tsp in one jar. I liked the 1/4 tsp better.

This time, I used slightly less than 3/4 tsp. I plan on giving these to my wife’s family, and I thought they might like them sweeter.

I had a bunch of mushrooms from Costco, so I made these. I do cut the tops, though, for at least the big ones. I also take these for my lunches. Put on beef, they’re pretty good to spice it up.

I looked for a recipe for fermented mushrooms, but couldn’t find one. Maybe there’s too much “bad” bacteria on mushrooms?

(Joey) #62

oooh. Sounds very tempting :yum:

(Butter Withaspoon) #63

Yeah fermented onions and fermented peppers sound great!

I’m making a push to ferment the rest of my sunchokes before they all resprout for spring. So much scrubbing! I’m one and a half giant jars done :heavy_check_mark: I’ve been adding a bit of cabbage to these and it’s a fantastic improvement of intensity and sharpness. I feel like the cabbage gets the process going quicker as well. At this rate I’ll run out of fridge room - I’ll have to beg the neighbours lol

(Wendy) #64

My Husband made some. They’re alittle too salty for me. But have a great crunch and taste. You might try other veggies. Like broccoli, and carrots.

(Jane) #65

There is a recipe for fermented mushrooms in Shockey’s book but ut recommends using dried mushrooms, not fresh.

I ordered some Shiitaki dried mushrooms online to try.

(Bob M) #66

I had some extra brine and made carrots. My wife had a bag of the small ones that are already cut for “snacking” for our kids. I took those, the brine, some lemon slices, and a grape leaf and put in a jar for a while.

I thought they were good, though my kids refused to eat them. Darn it! That’s why I made them.

@Janie I saw that recipe with the dried mushrooms. I looked online too and could find no recipes for fermented (fresh) mushrooms. That’s why I made the Alton Brown recipe, which I like anyway. But I thought I’d find some recipes for fermented fresh mushrooms…but did not.

(Jane) #67

I am going to try the fresh pickled mushrooms also - sounds good.

(Jane) #68

I made the pickled mushrooms last night and I know Alton Brown says refrigerate 3 days … but I coudln’t wait and popped one into my mouth today - delicious!

So easy to make and I think I will keep a jar of these in the fridge all the time. I buy fresh mushrooms and sometimes they go bad before I can use them up. These will keep much longer.

(Bob M) #69

@Janie I really love that recipe. These make the perfect addition to my “meat” lunches.

I just went to Costco and was thinking of buying shrooms so I could make this. But my wife says we have enough shrooms at home.

Currently doing pickles, red onions, and hot peppers. The recipe for the hot peppers said to “coarsely chop” using the food processor. But I threw whole peppers into the food processor, which meant I either had huge pieces or mush. So, I ended up with mush.

Next time, I’ll have to cut the peppers first.

(Jane) #70

Yes, I cut mine up first and ended up with small pieces and fermented well.

(Bob M) #71

His long did you ferment them? The book implies you can ferment for months, and they’ll get better during that time.

(Jane) #72

3 weeks

(Bob M) #73

Great, as that was what I put on a little chalkboard I’m using to track this stuff. I’ll taste then. Since I made so much, what I might do is take half out (if it tastes good) and leave half to keep fermenting.

(Bob M) #74

Well, I took out my red onions after about a week, and they are great. I use them to “spice up” my all-meat lunches.

But I kept meaning to test the pickles…and forgot. So, when I finally tested them this morning, they are mushy. Oh no!

They taste great, but are mushy. Darn it!

I will have to test more often, although the cucumbers I used, while being pickling cucumbers, are quite large. I did not want to take out a whole pickle. That may have been a mistake.

And perhaps I have to order another set of pH strips, since I cannot find the strips I ordered. That would make it easier to test, instead of pulling a pickle out.

(Joey) #75

FWIW, I’ve found that my pickles reach low acidity after only about 5 days or so - unlike sauerkraut and kimchi, both of which take longer (10-14 days). Perhaps you’re leaving the pickles in too long?

Then again, I keep pickles in the fridge for months (those that last before being devoured), so maybe this idea of leaving them to ferment at room temperature too long is bogus. What’s more, olden days general stores had unrefrigerated pickles in barrels forever, so nix this line of thinking… :thinking:

(Bob M) #76

I definitely left them in too long, because the previous batch were great – most of them. I like where the middle is translucent, but there’s still some “bite” to the whole thing. Most were like this, but some were too “cucumbery”, so I left this batch in longer, figuring I’d get better results.

And I kept meaning to try them, but forgot.

I think the unrefrigerated pickles in the jars are “normally” pickled, with a brine with acid/vinegar. I like those too, but I think that process prevents them from “degrading”. I’d bet that fermented pickles couldn’t be left out like that.

By the way, I got that white “stuff” on the surface of these. Any way to get that off before I put these into jars?

(Joey) #77

The barrels in the general store may have used a vinegar recipe. FWIW, that defeats the “good” bacteria from growing, but that’s another issue.

Regarding “white stuff” … if you mean mold (where there’s air exposure), it’s harmless and can be scraped off. If you mean the sediment that accumulates surrounding the submerged pickles, that’s just the undissolved residue of the flavorings (e.g., garlic, mustard powder, etc.), and that has never bothered me. That’s where much of the flavor came from.

(Bob M) #78

Thanks, Joey.

I mean the mold where there’s air exposure. It has kind of infiltrated the whole top, when I removed the top part (I used the fancy fermenting box, with the top part that’s supposed to sit against the brine and reduce mold).

When I made Giardiniera, I had mold too. That was particularly bad, because the top kept getting popped off. Not sure why.

I tried to get the mold off, but a lot of it made it into one jar in particular, which is one of the multiple jars where the Giardiniera went after taking it out of the fancy fermenting box.

I ended up disliking that bottle so much, that I thought of tossing all the other ones. They, however, did not have much of the mold and tasted a lot better. Enough to redeem the recipe.

I was wondering if there was a trick to getting the mold off. But maybe I just have to work at it and be more careful in removal.

(Joey) #79

Wish I could share some relevant experience with surface white mold. Frankly, I’ve never really had much of that issue - not sure why, perhaps other than keeping things submerged.

I’ve found that the first few days of fermentation tend to be the ones where the most CO2 is produced and I’ve been extra careful to “burp” out any accumulating bubbles during these critical days.

Then the pace of fermentation seems to produce less CO2 as the pH drops to my desired acidity over the days/weeks ahead.

I’ve had little (tiny) patches of some white surface mold on occasion (my sauerkraut seems most susceptible) but it was minimal, scraped off easily, and did not return in any of the jars subsequently from that batch.

Again, not sure why you’re being plagued with this white mold. Although harmless (per Shockeys’ books) I wouldn’t find that particularly appetizing or comforting.

Keep us posted if you have any breakthroughs on this front!

(Butter Withaspoon) #80

“If it’s under the brine…
All will be fine”
The fermenters refrain, sing it loudly and you won’t have mould. As long as you follow the instruction! I had furry mould once when leaves I used as a cover went furry. Was never going to eat those anyway, easy to discard. Bit since then my preference is to keep veg under water with a weight. No mould can grow on the brine.