Fermenting and Pickling

Beth Gallagher

Beth Gallagher

Well-known member
I haven't done any pickling to speak of recently, but I am growing banana peppers and I'll be putting some of those in jars when I have enough. I also recently saw a video of a method of canning coleslaw that is similar to fermented cabbage that I want to try. It will be fine for small batch preserving which is what I'm interested in.

Have you done any fermenting or pickling lately?
 
Not lately. I used to can dill pickles, sweet pickles, and bread and butter pickles. My grandma and one of my aunts use to make freezer slaw, instead of canning it. It had a sweet and sour dressing. I never liked it but, I don't generally like sweet and sour dressings.
 
Krystal Shay said:
Not lately. I used to can dill pickles, sweet pickles, and bread and butter pickles. My grandma and one of my aunts use to make freezer slaw, instead of canning it. It had a sweet and sour dressing. I never liked it but, I don't generally like sweet and sour dressings.
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I like my coleslaw to have a bit of crunch, so I'm not at all sure I really want to can or ferment it. I was just thinking that I have tried a few of the woman's recipes who puts slaw in jars and haven't liked any of them. So maybe I'll pass. :p

ETA--after looking at the instructions again, the slaw is water-bath canned so I'll put the recipe in the canning thread.
 
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Shirley Martin said:
The only pickling I do is cucumber sweet pickles. I tried the fermented cabbage thing one time. It turned out horrible. I don't know if I did something wrong or not, but I'm not inclined to try to do it again. ☺️
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I have tried making kraut a couple of times and was disgusted with both attempts. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I just don't like kraut!! I know the commercial sauerkraut smells like vomit to me, lol.
 
We used to do kraut in a crock, but it was difficult to tend, then we moved to 1/2 gallon jars and that worked okay when we had more eaters here, so we moved to quarts and canned it, but that killed off the bacteria. Now we ferment it in 1/2 gallon jars and transfer it into freezer-safe containers and freeze it. The bacteria are suspended, not killed and we can get it to the sourness we like and stop the process.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I like my coleslaw to have a bit of crunch, so I'm not at all sure I really want to can or ferment it. I was just thinking that I have tried a few of the woman's recipes who puts slaw in jars and haven't liked any of them. So maybe I'll pass. :p

ETA--after looking at the instructions again, the slaw is water-bath canned so I'll put the recipe in the canning thread.
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If it’s fermented using a decent vegetable culture it stays crunchy @Beth Gallagher
This is what I use ….i get it from a place in Queensland ,called Green Living ….

postage is getting very expensive ….this is enough for up to 100 jars of fermented veggies …..use the tiniest bit ..per jar

I’ve kept a jar of cabbage based veggies for over 6 months in the fridge ….think theses other sachets you can buy called Mad Millie brand https://au.madmillie.com/products/mad-millie-vegetable-culture-new-design

IMG_1754.jpeg
 
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Don Alaska said:
We used to do kraut in a crock, but it was difficult to tend, then we moved to 1/2 gallon jars and that worked okay when we had more eaters here, so we moved to quarts and canned it, but that killed off the bacteria. Now we ferment it in 1/2 gallon jars and transfer it into freezer-safe containers and freeze it. The bacteria are suspended, not killed and we can get it to the sourness we like and stop the process.
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Yep,I like tarty ferments ….I'm more of a tart food liker….than sweet stuff …the older I get I like things like olives / and capsicums prepared as I do from fresh burn skin off under griller ….add a little oil / vinegar / little garlic just barley enough to coat the capsicums …artichocks I get from Aldi in jars

dried tomatoe strips in oil … I guess you’d call all of it fermented in a sense …preserved
 
Kate Ellery said:
Yep,I like tarty ferments ….I'm more of a tart food liker….than sweet stuff …the older I get I like things like olives / and capsicums prepared as I do from fresh burn skin off under griller ….add a little oil / vinegar / little garlic just barley enough to coat the capsicums …artichocks I get from Aldi in jars

dried tomatoe strips in oil … I guess you’d call all of it fermented in a sense …preserved
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I mainly eat kraut pickles are too salty from the store.
 
My wife's idea of pickled eggs is probably related to the jars of pickled eggs found in rural gas stations, but, while I like them too, I think the ones that I make myself are much better.
 
I think you posted about pickled eggs before, Ken. That caused me to try to make them...a standard vinegar recipe and one that was more of a mustard base. I didn't like either. I recall my father having them in what must have been beet juice, because they were purple and it soaked a little way down into the white.
 
I made a batch of Mexican Jalapeno/onion/carrot pickles last week. One jar for me and the usual neighborhood text "got room in the fridge". All gone and requests for remakes are coming in. Small modification of the ingredients.
 
I remember when my grandma would make sauerkraut in the basement. She'd have it in large crocks with a plate on top of the cabbage and a rock to hold it down. Sometimes it would froth over the top of the crock and run across the basement. The whole house would smell like sauerkraut for days.

I regret that I wouldn't eat sauerkraut in those days. Now, I'd give a fortune to have some of grandma's kraut. I'm sure it was the best.
 
I slice and vacuum pack ….peppers ….We call capsicums:) and freeze them ,they are still good to be chopped finely for salads or what ever you choose to use them for …they are easy to grab out of freezer cut off bits off while still frozen ….for what ever …and pop them back in the freezer
I use a wide plastic peg ,to hold the vacuum pack pack closed after opening it
 
Amazon has this fermenting package on sale now. I got the ad for it because I bought my yogurt maker from the same company, and they said it is a half price special right now.
It comes with the spring weights to hold the veggies under the brine and the fermenting caps. I already have some of the glass weights and the little pickle caps with the top that lets gas escape, but this looks like an easy way to get started with making pickles or sauerkraut.

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