Pickling / Canning Recipes

[half full monty]

Getting lots of squash and tomatoes, and my buddy has more banana peppers than he know what to do with, and I'll have some coming in soon.

This weekend I made three quarts and six pints of pickled veggies, mostly banana peppers using a basic recipe found on the net:

Quart of vinegar
1 1.3 cups of water
2 tbs of pickling spice
1/2 tsp of pickling salt
1/2 cup sugar

Liberally added garlic, onions and dill to each jar as well. (and threw some serrano and jalapeno's in a few jars)

I got the process down, now I'm looking for some stellar recipes. From what I've read, it's important to have a tried and true recipe and not to change the vinegar/water ratio. Whose got one?

 

[AVB]

This is what I use to make my pickles.

This recipe is for a 5-gallon crock. If your crock is larger or smaller, adjust the recipe proportionally.

Instructions & Ingredients

Be sure to weigh & measure everything exactly, and take care that the crock, utensils, etc. are scrupulously clean. Wash & dry 18 pounds fresh pickling cukes 3 to 5 inches in length. Be sure to cut about 1/8 of an inch off the blossom end of each cuke; this keeps them from going soft. The blossom end is light green in color as opposed to the darker green of the stem end.

10 1/2 quarts cold well water.
1 cup apple cider vinegar.
2 level cups non-iodized canning salt.
Fresh garlic, dill & hot pepper (optional).

Directions
Pack the cukes fairly tightly into the crock, but not so tight that they bruise. Layer in some dill heads, cut-up garlic & a couple of hot peppers if desired (I personally like lots of garlic, but none of these three ingredients are essential to the recipe). The crock will be only about 3/4 full of cukes; this is intentional so as to leave plenty of headspace for the brine.

Place a dinner plate over the cukes and weigh it down with a large zip-lock bag full of salt water (the salt keeps the water in the zip-lock from getting funky). In a separate container (a food-grade plastic bucket works fine), mix a brine of the water, vinegar & salt. Pour the brine over the cukes. The brine will cover the cukes by at least 2 inches & should nearly fill the crock to the brim. In fact, depending on the density of the cukes you may end up with a little more brine than you need; if so, discard it.

Cover the crock with plastic wrap to keep the air out and place it in a dark place where the temperature will remain between 65 and 80 degrees F. You’re done for now.
After a couple of days the pickles will begin to ferment and form lactic acid (good bacteria at work). The lactic acid is what imparts the delicious & unique flavor to the
pickles that you simply won’t find in the store-bought kind.

Air is the enemy of fermentation and will usually cause a milky-looking scum to form on the surface of the brine. That’s the reason for the plastic wrap -- to minimize the amount of air contacting the brine. The scum is nothing to be overly concerned about because you will have enough of a brine layer above the pickles to protect them from it. Just check the crock every day and if any scum appears remove it with a clean slotted spoon.

The amount of time to complete the fermentation process varies from a couple of weeks in a warm environment to a month or more in a cooler environment. As the pickles ferment, do an occasional taste test until the desired flavor is achieved. From that point the pickles can be consumed directly from the crock for several weeks. But to store them for longer periods it is advisable to transfer the pickles & brine to sterilized canning jars and keep them refrigerated. If you don’t have adequate refrigerator space, process & seal the jars in boiling water. By the way, the brine will develop a cloudy appearance; this is normal and is nothing to worry about.

 

[MrMaduro]

Here's my recipe for Pickled Jalapeno slices. These are really crispy even up to a year after canning.

Enough sliced jalapenos to fill 4 pint jars.
In each jar place 2 small garlic cloves, 2 whole alspice berries, 4 whole black peppercorns, and 1/2 of a bay leaf. Fill jars with sliced peppers.
Next in a nonreactive sauce pan add 2 cups cider, white wine, or distilled vinegar. (my preference is cider) 2 cups water, 4 teaspoons pickling salt. Bring to a boil then pour into jars leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Now for the part that keeps them crispy, don't boil in water bath. After filling each jar with brine place lid and tighten ring then wrap each jar in a dish towel, this will keep them from cooling to fast. Believe it or not all your jars should seal.