Pickles: Food Preservation at It's Finest
In our post-carbon city we imagine a widespread culture of food preservation. For our community it is important to preserve the seasonal surplus, in order to minimize waste and store a diverse array of food options year round. Preservation techniques such as fermentation, and solar food dryers use zero carbon and will be a key element of our future food system.
Who doesn’t love pickles? The word alone is fantastic. Take a moment and say it aloud… you can’t help but smile as the letters cluck with a particular happiness. Pickling is one of the fundamentals of food preservation, a skill that is becoming ever more in demand and will help communities become more resilient. Preserving food is necessary for folks trying to be self-sufficient but it is also a great intermediary step for others who are interested in building skills or simply making tasty high quality foods. There is room for everyone at a pickle party.
While working for a small pickling company in California I have had the pleasure of helping out with a variety of pickle making workshops. The highlight of the day is always people sharing stories of their pickling memories. Some of the pickle enthusiasts attend workshops motivated by their nostalgia of pickling in hot summer kitchens with their Polish grandparents, or growing up in New York City, making the trek to the Lower East Side for the perfect pickle. Others are on the search to recreate a tasty pickle they came across in Eastern Europe or perhaps Japan. And there are always a few who are simply curious about pickles.
The magic in preserving food is not just savoring the summer harvest during long winter nights; it is also history and traditions that have been passed down over generations. Take a look at a home-canners cupboard in the middle of December. They will recall not just the recipes, but the provenance and story of each jar. A jar is the history of weather patterns, or maybe a jar of tomatoes recalls nurturing them through a 30 day drought, or a peck of cucumbers that struggled to withstand the mighty slugs of your garden. Perhaps a jar of pickled carrots reminds you of the day you strolled down to the Farmer’s market and talked to vendors about chioga beets and rainbow carrots. Each jar leaves a map of growth, harvest and processing, dotted with friends and family, from farm to table.
My favorite pickles are classic fermented Sour Dills. A true pickle connoisseur will tell you the following recipe is for ½ sours, because they don’t have quite the kick as a whole sour pickle. But they still crunch and zing happily on your tongue, illuminating taste buds and childhood memories.
Fermentation is the oldest form of food preservation and is used for many everyday foods from yogurt, to chocolate and salami. Fermentation employs salt and the naturally present lactic acid bacteria in vegetables to turn fresh foods into preserved, hearty and nutritious food to eat alone or as accompaniment for a special dish.
For those who are fearful of fermentation, Vanessa Barrington, author of DIY Delicious has some sage advice, “ Fermentation occurs when beneficial bacteria and yeast colonize food. Once the good bacteria colonize a food item the bad bacteria don’t stand a chance. On occasion, bad organisms get into a food before the good ones-- usually early in the process. That’s why it is important to keep things (jars, utensils, etc.) clean. If it happens, you will know it. Your nose will tell you in no uncertain terms. I can’t stress it enough. Trust yourself.“ So as you make your way through this recipe and wait the allotted one-two weeks with a mysterious jar of pickles on your kitchen counter, anticipating the day when your pickles will reach their tasty climax, don’t be scared, be patient and use your nose as a guide.
The following Recipe is adapted from Happy Girl Kitchen Company.
Tasty Sour Dills
Preparation: 4 Quarts
4 Pounds of washed Pickling Cucumbers
1 Bunch of Fresh Flowering Dill
4 Grape Leaves(optional)
4 Tsp. pickling spices
12 Cloves of peeled garlic
1 Gallon filtered Water
¾ Cups of Sea salt (absolutely do not use iodized salt)
Step 1: Start off with very clean jars (and lids). You do not need to sterilize them, but clean them well with hot soapy water, especially if they have been used to store other goods. Make sure to rinse out all of the soap, not ideal flavoring for pickles.
Step 2: To each jar add a sprig of dill, a generous teaspoon of pickling spices, 3 cloves of garlic and a grape leaf. Spice is a personal preference, so feel free to experiment with your own mix of spice, garlic or no garlic and even chili flakes.
Step 3: Pack Pickles. Keep the pickles whole and try to pack in as many as possible so they are tightly wedged up against the glass. Leave about 1 inch from the top of the jar. Packing the pickles tight gives you more tasty pickles and helps the contents not float up to the surface, which can encourage mold.
Step 4: Combine the water and salt to make a brine. ¾ cup salt to 1 gallon creates a 5% salinity, which is a good ratio for fermentation. If you decrease or increase this recipe make sure to maintain 5% salinity.
Step 5: Pour the brine into each jar up to the brim. Make sure the pickles are completely covered.
Step 6: Wait. Set your jars in an area will they will not be disturbed, out of direct sunlight and approximately 55-70° F. Let your pickles ferment for about 7-10 days. Every other day or so check for mold, skim it off the top, but don’t worry your pickles are doing great. The mold is only on the surface where the spices have floated to the top and reacted with oxygen, all the submerged veggies are protected by the brine and lactic acid.
After the first 5 days give them a taste and check progress. When they taste good to you put them in the fridge. They will stay freshest and crunchy for about one month.
Enjoy your pickles!
Tips:
· When buying or harvesting your own pickling cucumbers make sure to use small, fresh cukes. If you are purchasing them ask when they were harvested, the more recent the better, same day is the best. Old cucumbers won’t be as crunchy in the end. Also make sure to wash well and remove any of the blossom ends(can be bitter).
· Preserve food with friends and family. Sometimes cleaning, chopping, and packing can be a bit tedious so invite your friends and make it fun! Especially if you are tackling a large amount of produce that will spoil quickly.
· Fermentation can be done in any non-porous vessel. Feel free to experiment with other vessels such as stainless steel pots, or ceramic urns. Many folks use food grade plastic buckets but I personally steer clear. Just make sure your veggies stay submerged and can breath. To allow “breathing” use lids that are not air tight, either cover with cloth and rubber band/string or simply place the inner circle of a canning lid on your jar without tightening the rim.
· When making brine make a bit extra for topping off jars. In case there is a lot of evaporation you may want to top of the liquid in the jars so that the pickles stay submerged.
· The more the better! You will not get sick of these pickles. You will hope you made more, so always make extra. If you can’t manage to finish your pickles you can also give them as much appreciated gifts.
For more pickling inspiration check out:
Books
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz
Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich
Workshops
Happy Girl Kitchen http://happygirlkitchen.com/workshops/
By: Amber Manuwa
Look around you, what steps do you take towards a more eco-friendly life? A lot of people perceive recycling and installing compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL’s) into the lamps around their houses as doing their part to save the earth from environmental disaster. However you can do numerous other things, for instance biking to work/school, putting on a sweater instead of turning on the heater, to produce less carbon and save the planet.
I bet you have thought, “How is carbon bad?” Carbon dioxide is a green house gas that when added to the atmosphere contributes to global warming. One way to work towards lowering your impact of carbon on the atmosphere requires you to take a closer look at the food you eat. Knowing the background of where your food comes from may come as a big shock to you. A lot of the food found in grocery stores ends up pumped full of hormones or with names of ingredients you cannot pronounce or have let alone heard of. Many people have turned a cold shoulder on these types of foods, such as frozen waffles and canned raviolis, and look towards food coming from more local sources with less of a carbon footprint and more of the healthy ingredients for your body, mind, and soul.
All through out the world community gardens sprout up to provide locals with fresh fruits and vegetables like lettuce, kale, tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries that grow easily with the climate in their neighborhoods. This provides residents with the opportunity to learn more about gardening, more about plants, and more about their neighbors and communities. I live in San Francisco and with one bus ride from Powell St. in downtown San Francisco to school in the Richmond District I pass three community gardens. The food coming from these gardens can be a five-minute walk away from your front door, supplying affordable pesticide-free vegetables.
However, what if you do not have the chance to live close enough to one of these community gardens? I currently have this problem, so I thought to create my own mini-garden and grow my own vegetables and flowers on the fire escape outside my window. I have never built anything like this or kept a garden before, so I thought what better way to document my successes and failures than with a blog post.
Step #1:
Scavenging for Materials
The first step to this process requires you to find some material to build the base and walls of the planter. I visited my university’s wood shop to find the wood I needed for my planter. Looking through the wood scrap bin, I found a nice unused piece of wood left by one of my fellow architecture colleagues, who did not need it anymore for his project. You can also look at your local lumberyard for pieces of scrap wood, or just walk round the city for furniture thrown out on the streets by your neighbors. For example, along the streets of San Francisco I mostly see small book frames or futons, which would make great planter bases and walls. If your wood materials do not already form the shape of a box, you will also need to acquire some wood nails or wood screws. You can ask your local hardware store about the correct sizes of the nails or screws with accordance to the size of your planter. I just used some of the wood nails I found in my universities wood shop. The scavenging for materials does not stop there. You will also need some tools and other supplies, so here is a short list.
Materials for Planter:
1. Wood or furniture you have found for the actual structure of the planter.
2. A measuring tape so you know how large or small the planter will be you do not want to build one that will not fit or hold all the wonderful plants you wish to grow.
3. A jigsaw (I used this tool to cut my wood. Depending on the thickness of your wood you might need some thing.)
4. Wood nails, wood screws, and wood glue to put it all together.
5. A drill so that you can add drainage holes and drill in your screws or a hammer for nails.
6. Planter liner and planting soil
Step #2:
Ready, Set, Cut & Assemble
First, you should measure the space in which you plan to place your planter. I am putting my planter on my fire escape, which measures out to 3’4” x 2’4” I cut the baseboard of my planter as a 20” x 20” square with the retaining walls of the planter at 10” enough to support the soil and the future vegetables and herbs which will hopefully grow there. After cutting all your pieces make sure to add drainage holes at the bottom of the planter. This will allow for water to drain from the soil providing the roots of your plants with air because after all healthy roots leads to healthier plants.
Now that everything measures out to fit the area you wish to start your garden and practice your green thumb skills, you can now assemble the pieces of wood together with the wood nails or screws and the wood glue. I assembled mine by hammering the retaining walls of the planter to the top of the baseboard. Make sure to have clean-cut pieces of wood, so no gaps appear between the spaces, which can let out soil.
Step #3:
Line Dancing with your planter
