Pickles - a warning!

[purple sprouting]

Inspired by a collegue at work I made some pickles this weekend.   I took the last of the Chillies out of the greenhouse (about 100 of the little beggars) and pickled them via the recent recipe in 'Jamie' magazine.    I suspect that the contents are going to be too hot to eat - but who knows if taken in small portions.........

Then (as it was pouring down, and I had noticed loads of green tomatoes whilst in the greenhouse, that are very unlikely to ripen now) I made some green tomato chutney.  The moral of the story....

Don't cook pickles on a day that you can't open the windows and doors to ventilate the house.   MY HOUSE STINKS.........and it's not exactly a pickley smell, just generally dirty...)

But, does anyone have any good pickle recipes as I think I am hooked!!

[purple sprouting]

[PurpleHeather]

You can add kippers, cabbage and curry to that list!

Vinegar is supposed to absorb smells too, one of the tips with white vinegar is to leave out a small bowl of it.

[jennym]

If you're going to make a lot of chutney, it's a good idea to get a proper outside vented extractor fan, and keep the kitchen door closed !

[chriscross1966]

I do my picallilli  outdoors on my camping stove, ditto with the hot-pickled gherkins (have to hot-pickle them the vinegar is only half-strength....)

chrisc

[MetMan]

My wife & I pickled a lot of green chillies a few months back based on Jamies recipes, and although we de-seeded them as best we could, they are very hot - but nice.

I think I am the only one eating them though !

[euronerd]

Purple sprouting, I had what I considered to be a reasonable success with some less than perfect turnips last back end, using similar ingredients to those used in piccalilli. If this sounds promising, I'll root out my notes. It's tangy, crunchy and spicy but not sweet, and not at all turnip-y.  ;D

Geoff.

[sharonmld]

Purple sprouting, I had what I considered to be a reasonable success with some less than perfect turnips last back end, using similar ingredients to those used in piccalilli. If this sounds promising, I'll root out my notes. It's tangy, crunchy and spicy but not sweet, and not at all turnip-y.  ;D

Geoff.

Hi, I made a very success 'picallili' with runner beans, they were abit stringy when eaten as steamed veg but after a couple of months in jars as a pickle the stringyness has completely dissapeared and it was rather lovely eaten with cold meat over christmas!

[Vinlander]

I made some green tomato chutney recipe once - the ridiculous amount of vinegar! and then you boil it all off and fill the house with tear gas!

There must be a better way!

The hint is the amazing number of recipes that allow any kind of vinegar - including vinegars with hardly any actual flavours.

I can understand why they use wines etc. in marinades and casseroles etc. - and I can understand why they boil the relatively small amount of alcohol off - it concentrates the flavours from the wine or cognac.

Nobody in their right mind would use vodka in this way so why boil off unflavoured vinegar?

Anyway, flavoured vinegars are only the shadow of the beer or wine/whatever that made them so why not add a bit of beer or wine (if the recipe is really insistent that you can't use any old vinegar).

As far as the boiling process is concerned, presumably to make the vinegar penetrate - surely you can get the same effect with less vinegar in a pressure cooker - starting with a vinegar concentration much closer to how you want it to end.

Letting it cool and seep and re-pressuring it would probably be just as effective as an extra couple of hours of boiling.

Has anyone tried using a pressure cooker with less vinegar?

[jennym]

Vinlander makes a good point about vinegar flavours. A good chutney will have the right balance of flavour, whether it be from the fruits and vegetables or from flavoured vinegar.
I use mainly malt vinegar, never spirit vinegar. The point of vinegar is to acidify the pickle to the extent where nasties won't grow in it, and it does need to penetrate the fruit & veg in the pickle.
I've found, over many years making chutneys, that the process of cooking with the vinegar changes the taste to become more palatable. It's definitely not to do with the vinegar reducing by evaporation, because I've tried several methods whilst ensuring that I maintain the same acidity level. When the vinegar is added towards the end of cooking, there's a harsher taste to the product than when it's included in the cooking process. Tests for acidity levels after 90 days can show very similar results, albeit with initially adjusted vinegar ratios, but the taste of the "fully cooked in vinegar" chutneys are definitely better.
I find that pressure cooking chutneys is difficult, as it's almost impossible to control texture, which I find is important too. The other thing that it's hard to control is sugar scorching in chutneys, especially with the sweeter fruits and veg like plum. And it's not a good idea to cook rhubarb in a pressure cooker, as it foams badly.
So all in all, I've found it best to stick to an non pressurised pan, with the chutney being cooked slowly for a longer time, with an increase in temperature towards the end, just before jarring. And of course, the door shut and the extractor fan on high.

[Vinlander]

So all in all, I've found it best to stick to an non pressurised pan, with the chutney being cooked slowly for a longer time, with an increase in temperature towards the end, just before jarring. And of course, the door shut and the extractor fan on high.

Good to know it's been tried, even if it doesn't work. 

If the vinegar concentration has to be that high right up until the end then I suppose I could try using a condenser system to pull out what would end up as pure acetic. The only problem is that the system would be indistinguishable from an illegal still - apart from the smell!

I hate waste and I can't help thinking that every drop of vinegar (apart from the industrial stuff) used to be beer or wine...

Cheers.