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Half Sour Pickle Recipe Question
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Posted by bassetta (My Page) on Wed, Aug 5, 09 at 16:19
I tried the (Claussen) dill pickle recipe posted by "linda lou" back in 2008. The flavor smells and tastes great! I read a post by ksrogers saying that the claussen type are a half sour and should be put in the fridge after 2-5 days, not fully fermented as in 'linda lou's' recipe calls for 10-11 days. So, after the day 3, I tasted the pickle and the flavor was good, crispy, a bit too salty though and I could still taste the cucumber flavor. I packed them into the jars, some with all of the brine and some with half brine and half water. I was experiementing to see if the half solution would help with the too much salt factor. After 5 days, I taste tested both and the full brine was still too salty, but not as much as before and the half solution had a much less salty taste. With both taste tested, I could still taste the cucumber flavor.
I want to try this again, but I want to make sure that I won't get the cucumber flavor with my next batches. Ken, I have read your posts, so I am going to apologize in advance if you have already answered this question and don't feel obligated or waste your time in answering again. As I understand that life's chores are neverending and very time consuming!
Thanks, Amy
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Half Sour Pickle Recipe Question
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| I want to try this again, but I want to make sure that I won't get the cucumber flavor with my next batches. I don't recall all the details of the recipe off hand but fresh cucumbers are noted for not having a great deal of natural flavor because they are 90% water. This allows them to quickly absorb the flavors of what ever is added to the brine. Older cukes will be much stronger cuke flavored so fresh-as-possible cukes (picked and pickled within 12 hours) is what is recommended. Other than that any "cucumber flavor", other than that normal to all pickles, would most likely be caused by either too little vinegar, by the flavoring spices used - too old or not enough or them, or by the brine temperature. Too little vinegar would be easy to fix by just adding small amounts at a time until the taste desired is achieved. If old spices were used they would have lost much of their flavor so using only very freshly dried spices might solve the problem. Hope this helps. Dave PS: I linked the Troubleshooting Guidelines for Fermenting below in case they may be of help to you too. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Causes and Possible Solutions for Problems with Fermented Pickles
RE: Half Sour Pickle Recipe Question
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| Suggest that you try the Mrs. Wages dill pickle mixes and add plenty of fresh dill weed and fresh dill seeed heads, also a few cut up cloves of garlic for your brine. If you have measured the amount of salt to water, and found it to be too salty, you can dilute it a little, but dilution should not be done once they are fermented. It can affect the brine in that the cukes can get mushy, or spoil much easier. As I have mentioned, I do make my brines by taste, but Alton Browns recipe of 5.5 ounces (by weight) of pickling salt or the Mrs. Wages to a gallon of water should come close. Cukes WILL have a cuke flavor even after a few weeks in the brine. You don't want all of the cuke flavor masked by salt and spices. I add the small amount of vinegar after the few days at room temp fermenting, then they get placed in half gallon jars in the fridge. I usually don't taste them for about 3-5 days later. I do taste the brine before adding the fresh pickling cukes. Right now, I only have 2 cukes that will be ready to pick tomorrow. Everything here has taken a 45+ day length out of the growing season due to the cold bad weather he had in June and July. At least we hit a 90 degree day last week. Most of my dill has passed on to tan seeds and is dieing out. I have one plant over 7 foot tall however, a record for me. It came out of soil that had a lot of bird seed thistle hulls left by gold finches in winter. |
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