JoelF wrote:budrichard wrote:Tell me more about Vietnamese pickled mustard greens, I've got a bumper crop right now that if I don't find something else, will be blanched and frozen this weekend.
Xexo wrote:
My neighbor has one of these and she doesn't like it much. Unlike the one pictured on Wikipedia, the water seal part, cuts off a couple of inches across the top of the crock, so she can't put larger things in it. Like whole cabbage. Yes, she likes to do whole head cabbage pickling.
The one pictured on Wikipedia has the water seal part of the crock flare out from the crock body, so it would appear that larger things could go into the crock.
Me, well I'm not fond of pickled things, so it doesn't much matter to me. So Cathy is safe from me trying to talk her out of her b&b pickles.
JoelF wrote:budrichard wrote:He does a lot of small batch with them.
I use it primarily to ferment mustard greens for Vietnamese recipes.
Tell me more about Vietnamese pickled mustard greens, I've got a bumper crop right now that if I don't find something else, will be blanched and frozen this weekend.
budrichard wrote:JoelF wrote:budrichard wrote:He does a lot of small batch with them.
I use it primarily to ferment mustard greens for Vietnamese recipes.
Tell me more about Vietnamese pickled mustard greens, I've got a bumper crop right now that if I don't find something else, will be blanched and frozen this weekend.
Very simple, it is salt cured product, you will need some sort of fermenting equipment we have been discussing and some time. Recipes are available.
Then you use it as a vegetable additive. Rabbit with mustard greens comes to mind from a Vietnamese restaurant.
JoelF wrote:budrichard wrote:JoelF wrote:budrichard wrote:He does a lot of small batch with them.
I use it primarily to ferment mustard greens for Vietnamese recipes.
Tell me more about Vietnamese pickled mustard greens, I've got a bumper crop right now that if I don't find something else, will be blanched and frozen this weekend.
Very simple, it is salt cured product, you will need some sort of fermenting equipment we have been discussing and some time. Recipes are available.
Then you use it as a vegetable additive. Rabbit with mustard greens comes to mind from a Vietnamese restaurant.
I found some recipes that are basic feeling pickling brine. Not the same?
budrichard wrote:Where is the ‘top’ of the crock?
HonestMan wrote:My cucumbers are starting to come up, and there will probably be a lot. I don't think they are labeled "pickling", but can I try to pickle them anyway?
HonestMan wrote:My cucumbers are starting to come up, and there will probably be a lot. I don't think they are labeled "pickling", but can I try to pickle them anyway?
WillG wrote:I have a smaller (1/2 gallon) version of what looks like the same crock as Ronnie, called sauerkrock. The instructions that came with it said not to fill the crock more than 3/4 full. The water canal is filled to stop air circulation, but obviously if it is 1/4 empty, there is already air in there. Ronnie filled his to the top. Which is correct or maybe it doesnt really matter.
ronnie_suburban wrote:Used to see this all the time in delis, etc. Self-service pickle barrels on the floor in the storefront. I guess they're still around. Is there anything short of refrigeration that would prevent additional gunk from continuing to form on the surface, or is removing that a perpetual task?
budrichard wrote:Now that Bobak’s store is gone, Andy’s Deli has pickle, kraut and herring barrels, harking back to stores’ 60 years ago.
budrichard wrote:As to scum on pickling containers, a Harsch type crock with a water seal works quite well.
Harsch is defunct but there is another supplier on the market available from Germany
https://www.amazon.com/harsch-crock/s?k=harsch+crock
budrichard wrote:The typical crock sold in the US using a plate for a seal, of course ends up with mung on the top.
With a water seal, all you do is keep the annulus full of water and the CO2 generated by fermentation bubbles through the water and O2 is eliminated.
We do kraut and last year did 30 liters in our 10 and 20 l Harsch crocks.
No mung what so ever.
ronnie_suburban wrote:I've been storing the jar out of direct sunlight and keeping it covered with a piece of cheesecloth secured with a rubber band.
My cucumbers are starting to come up, and there will probably be a lot. I don't think they are labeled "pickling", but can I try to pickle them anyway?
Rene G wrote:You would almost certainly have less problem with gunk if you took measures to exclude oxygen. If you don't want to use a fermentation lock, simply screwing on a lid with a pinhole vent might help reduce the amount of oxygen – and so the amount of fungus growth – in the vessel. It's not a very efficient airlock, but during active fermentation the pressure of the carbon dioxide will result in one-way flow. Covering the mouth with cheesecloth almost guarantees abundant gunk.
ronnie_suburban wrote:budrichard wrote:Where is the ‘top’ of the crock?
Wait? The top isn't purely decorative?
Yes, the lid is on . . .
Lidded Pickling Crock
And I think I have it filled up enough . . .
Cucumbers Pickling in Crock
What little you see floating on top appears to be ground mustard seed. I'll do my best not to keep opening it and looking at them. But for now, we wait . . .
=R=
ronnie_suburban wrote:WillG wrote:I have a smaller (1/2 gallon) version of what looks like the same crock as Ronnie, called sauerkrock. The instructions that came with it said not to fill the crock more than 3/4 full. The water canal is filled to stop air circulation, but obviously if it is 1/4 empty, there is already air in there. Ronnie filled his to the top. Which is correct or maybe it doesnt really matter.
Your guess is as good as mine (or better). I'm just gleaning info from others here on the thread and the internet in general.
=R=
Rene G wrote:You would almost certainly have less problem with gunk if you took measures to exclude oxygen. If you don't want to use a fermentation lock, simply screwing on a lid with a pinhole vent might help reduce the amount of oxygen – and so the amount of fungus growth – in the vessel. It's not a very efficient airlock, but during active fermentation the pressure of the carbon dioxide will result in one-way flow. Covering the mouth with cheesecloth almost guarantees abundant gunk.
ronnie_suburban wrote:slitted serranos
Seth Zurer wrote:Ronnie! Your pickles look great. I confess, your original question (perhaps now long settled) had me befuddled. I have a fridge full of quart jars of fermented cucumbers and expect to put up an obscene number of jars of pickled green tomatoes before the season ends and have never done anything to the brine before sticking them in the fridge. I skim any visible kahm yeast, put a lid on the jars, and stick em in the fridge. My understanding is that the fermentation slows to a crawl under the cool temps and unless you're trying to process them or are particularly married to the precise level of fermentation achieved at the moment of refrigeration there's no need to take action on the brine.
ronnie_suburban wrote:. . . keeping the brine level up to the rim of the vessel was paramount.
budrichard wrote:Don’t open the crock until you think the kraut is ready based on the temperature of the crock.
Binko wrote:Well, last week or so ago, I got around to pickling some beets for beet kvass: