Thanks much! :^)

Dave

Dave

Stacie
girlsingardens

If there's a pickling lime residue it can elevate the pH of the pickles, compromising the safety of the product.

Carol

Again, BULK FOODS has this and is the MOST RELIABLE source right now, if you have searched in vain ans cannot find it elsewhere.

Ever tried looking for rock salt in summer, just for making ice cream??

They had at least a couple dozen boxes left on the shelf.

Lynn

Dave

Dave

Love that that BUlK foods place, even if its a bit expensive for shipping. PC in a little box, with a few packets just gets you a couple of batchs of pickles at best. The amount I bought last year will last a long time and calculated out to be about 1/3 the cost.

The "use by" date on my Pickle Crisp is 05-2010.

I guess I need to pick up a few more boxes next time.

Lynn

FYI, the source below also has the following Pomona pectin products, even in small and large bulk sizes:

http://www.canningpantry.com/pectin.html

Take care.

"Jarden Corporation is a leading provider of niche consumer products used in and around the home. Jarden operates in three primary business segments through a number of well recognized brands, including:

Branded Consumables: Ball®, Bee®, Bicycle®, Crawford®, Diamond®, Dicon®, First Alert®, Forster®, Hoyle®, Java Log®, Kerr®, Lehigh®, Leslie-Locke®, Loew-Cornell® and Pine Mountain®;

Consumer Solutions: Bionaire®, Crock-Pot®, FoodSaver®, Harmony®, Health o meter®, Holmes®, Mr. Coffee®, Oster®, Patton®, Rival®, Seal-a-Meal®, Sunbeam®, VillaWare® and White Mountain®;

and Outdoor Solutions: Abu Garcia®, Berkley®, Campingaz®, Coleman®, Fenwick®, Gulp!®, JT®, K2®, Marker®, Marmot®, Mitchell®, Penn®, Rawlings®, Shakespeare®, Sevylor®, Stearns®, Stren®, Trilene® and Volkl®.

Headquartered in Rye, N.Y., Jarden has over 25,000 employees worldwide. Jarden Corporation is ranked #492 on the FORTUNE 500 list of America's largest corporations."

Whew! Yet they can't make a few pickle makers happy.
Anyway, the rep I talked to was very pleasant. She told me that they no longer sold it because "some people had complained of stomach/digestive problems using it in home canning". She told me Mrs. Wages had actually manufactured it for them. (Maybe I misunderstood that- it made no sense to me since it was packaged by Ball/Jarden). She told me that "it can still be purchased through canning pantry dot com." (Tho' from the posts above it appears they no longer have it and the only source seems to be Ken's bulk food online store link.)

All I know is I used it last year and got crisper veggie pickles for the first time ever. I bought a dozen boxes last year. When I run out I'll get it from Ken's bulk link.

Rebecca

Here is the same info I provided to you in your email:

Because I use a higher power vacuum pump, and also use the Food Saver canning jar adapter, as well as large vacuum tight canisters from Food Saver. My process as mentioned in may posts sine 2 years ago has gone very well. I pickle the very thin pepperoncini peppers which are very thin and delicate. If I were to use ANY heat when canning these, they will turn to mush very quickly. The process involves piercing each pepper, and cutting off the crown tops and stems. I make up a full strength (5%) vinegar and add salt to my taste. The peppers get place in a gallon sized FS canister, which has a knob on top to seal or vent, as well as a fitting to pull the vacuum. My pump is a dual diaphragm type, with a large capacity moisture trap to prevent the corrosive brine from getting into the pump. The FS rectangular canister was used at one time , but even though they are quite thick and rugged , I had cracked 4 of them. It was because my pump is very powerful. I DO NOT use the Food saver pump, but ONLY its hose (attachment) and the round canisters, as well as adapter that attaches to the canning jars. The adapters make a seal below the threads where there is a glass bead that the adapter 's O ring makes the seal. a canning lid is placed inside the adapter, and once I do a final filling of brine, I pull the vacuum again and then remove the hose attachment from the top of the adapter. What this does s to pull in s 'slug' of air, which immediately forces the lid onto the vacuumed jar. The vacuum is MUCH stronger than a regular canning would do. I also use this to help with dried herbs, as they too get placed in caning jars.

I wonder if the cook top you recommended is out of stock too. You really should be getting a cut of the profits.lol

PS: You may be able to get a larger quantity of the CC from Bulk Foods. It stores VERY well in sealed Ball quart jars. No exp. date, on it unless it solidifies, and by that time you know its not tightly sealed.

Your pantry must be a sight to behold at the end of the season!

No, Pickle Crisp was a Ball product and Mrs. Wages does not have that in its mixes. I like the Mrs Wages 'quick process' dill mix. The bigger pouch is a bit over 9 ounces, and has just the favors of dill and garlic, salt, and a bit of tumeric, plus a trace of alum. Its mixed with water only to make my half sours, or the regular way with boiling vinegar. I keep the vinegar to water ratio above 85% vinegar, so they be very safe. If you need PC, get it from Bulk Foods, but they are out right now. I would expect it would be available very soon again. Additionally, I add several dill seed heads, both brown and green, as well as lots of garlic cut into small pieces.
A spray of liquid kelp and water on the cuke foliage can get them going. Also, I use an organic product called 'Messenger', which is a naturally occuring culture that makes plants 'think' they are under stress and speeds up maturity. Its been a real help or my cukes, as they are really getting big and fast. One day at 3-4 inches, same cuke the next day, 5-6 inches. If just one gets missed from picking, it can slow all the others down, if it gets bigger than pickling size. One of my plants has FIVE cukes all at the same branch!! All are small , but I have never seen a cluster of five all close together like a bunch of grapes. Mrs. Wags still offers pickling lime, but thats a real pain to deal with.

I would never use those dark green cukes for pickling. They have just too much water and the skins are tougher. You would end up with a very mushy pickle.