By Brian Henry, The Peterborough Examiner

We commonly associate pickles with cucumbers, but pickles are any foods that have been preserved in a seasoned brine or acetic acid. The pickle menu includes such foods as mangoes, mushrooms, eggs and pig’s feet. I have tried pickled elk and moose meat as well.

The source for acetic acid is vinegar. Standard white vinegar is 5% acetic acid, which at this strength creates an acidic burning sensation to our taste buds and a startling pungency to our olfactory senses within our nose.

When pickling we add an equal amount of water in relation to the vinegar. This reduces the concentration of the acetic acid by almost half, creating a more palatable taste and allows other flavours to come to the forefront without diminishing the effects of vinegar as a preserving agent. In some pickle recipes the addition of sugar and spice helps off set the slightly sour and acidic bite attributed with vinegars

As many local crops are coming into season some of us begin to save the flavours of summer and the garden by curing and preserving foodstuffs for our pantry.

Three commonly used ingredients for creating pickles are cucumbers, dill and garlic. This trilogy of ingredients ironically is harvested within close proximity of each other, allowing us to create garlic dill pickles.

Fruits and vegetables can be preserved for a two- to four-year shelf life through pickling. The pickling process kills off all of the living tissue and deactivates the naturally present enzymes creating an environment that will not support any microbes and their associated toxins.

To maintain crispness of foods the use of unrefined sea salt, more commonly known as pickling salt, is introduced to help reinforce cell wall pectins. In other recipes we will find the use of alum or calcium hydroxide to maintain the high level of acidity for cell wall stabilization. With all of the scientific processes aside pickling is a process that preserves the simple flavours of foods.

A word of caution if you choose to try the following recipe: open a window when boiling or simmering vinegar as it can cause the acetic acid in the vinegar to take flight in the steam released from your cook pot, and avoid inhaling the fumes as it will take your breath away.

This recipe is perfect for packing up and taking back to the hunting camp.

PICKLED GARLIC

• 1 1/2 lbs peeled garlic cloves cut in half
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. pickling salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 peppercorns
• 5 whole allspice

Method:

Combine vinegars and sugars in a non-reactive pot and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the garlic and spices. Let the mixture return to a gentle boil and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Transfer the hot garlic and pickling brine into clean, sterilised jars and cover tightly. Place jars in the refrigerator to allow the flavours to develop for at least 24 hours before digging in. Keep the pickled garlic stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 4-6 weeks.

Lakefield area chef Brian Henry owns and operates Chef Brian Henry Private Chef Services: www.chefbrianhenry.com.

BY BRITTANY GRAHAM  –  fox13now.com

Grill master Susie Bulloch shows us how to make one of her favorite tailgating recipes. For more from her go here.  

Raspberry Cream Cheese Jalapeno Poppers

Fresh jalapenos are halved and seeded before being stuffed with cream cheese and raspberry jam then wrapped in bacon. The sweet and spicy bites are grilled until the jalapenos are tender and the bacon is crisp.

Servings 4-6 people

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients
• 9 medium jalapenos
• 4 oz softened cream cheese
• 1/4 cup raspberry jelly
• 18 slices bacon
Servings: people
Instructions
1. Slice jalapenos in half lengthwise and clean out the ribs and seeds with a spoon.
2. Fill each jalapeno with a small spoonful of both the cream cheese and the raspberry jam. Wrap in a slice of bacon, securing the ends with a toothpick if necessary.
3. When ready to cook, prepare your grill for indirect cooking. If you are cooking on gas, turn the burner temperature down to medium low. If you are cooking over charcoal, pile the coals in the middle and arrange the poppers around the outside of the grill. If you are cooking with a pellet grill, set the temperature and allow the grill to preheat for 10-15 minutes before putting the poppers on. You are looking for a grill temperature of about 350 degrees F.
4. Grill the poppers for 25-30 minutes, turning as necessary to crisp the bacon. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Margaret Warr, News Journal correspondent

Doris Melton shares the ultimate lemon sour cream pound cake made with fresh lemon juice and topped with a light lemon glaze. Her friend makes this cake every year for her mother’s birthday. She raves that this cake is one of the best she has ever tasted.

The baked chicken breasts with jalapeno peppers dish makes cooking easier. Melton fills each breast with the rich flavors of cheese and jalapenos secured with bacon. This moist and juicy chicken is served with rice salad. She says this rice salad is a better accompaniment than potato salad.

Rice Salad

1 cup converted rice

2 cups mayonnaise

2 cups diced celery

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 teaspoons mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 red apple, diced

4 boiled eggs, chopped

8 radishes, sliced

1 cucumber, pared and diced

Cook rice according to package directions. Transfer to bowl. Cover and chill.

Add mayonnaise, celery, onion, mustard and salt to chilled rice; mix well. Cover and chill.

Stir in remaining ingredients before serving.

Baked Chicken Breast with Jalapeno Peppers

6 to 8 boneless chicken breasts

Jalapeno peppers, fresh

1 (6-ounce) package shredded Pepper Jack, jalapeno jack or sharp Cheddar cheese

1 pound bacon

Salt & pepper, to taste

Prepare chicken breast with meat mallet until flat (do not over pound, breast should be thick enough to be wrapped). Halve jalapeno peppers, remove seeds and veins. Place desired number of jalapeno peppers and 1 ounce cheese in each chicken breast and fold. Wrap each breast with bacon strip and secure with toothpick.

Place on baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Check for doneness. Salt and pepper.

May be cooked on grill instead of baking, if desired.

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

3 cups sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream

6 large eggs, room temperature, beaten

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place ingredients in 4-quart mixing bowl in order. Beat at low speed with heavy-duty mixer for 1 minute, pausing to scrape down sides. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Spoon batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 90 minutes or until test done. Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.

For the lemon glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (optional)

Stir together until smooth. Drizzle over cool cake.

Hanna Raskin Email @hannaraskin – The Post and Courier

If Charleston’s amateur pickle makers didn’t rush to their gardens and markets in search of preservation-worthy melons after reading a cooking column in the July 1, 1917, issue of The Sunday News, the columnist’s derisive tone was probably to blame.

“Here is a sweet pickle recipe for cantaloupe,” groused the author of Mary’s Housekeeping, styled as a conversation between a mother and daughter. “I don’t care for it very much myself, but there are others who are quite fond of it, so I am giving it to you anyway.”

R.J. Moody, chef at Spero restaurant.
Enlarge R.J. Moody, chef at Spero restaurant. Wade Spees/Staff
The daughter was unimpressed: “I believe I’ll just take my cantaloupes plain, if you please.”
But as the columnist noted, cantaloupe pickles — often likened to watermelon rind pickles — were wildly popular in certain circles. Considered a guaranteed extension of summer, the pickles were relatively easy to make and elegant enough for stylish luncheons.

The background
Pickling is practiced around the world. According to “The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink,” ancient Mesopotamians were well-acquainted with the concept of preserving food in spiced saltwater brine. In North America, indigenous people pickled meat in maple-sap vinegar.

Each culture has its pickle preferences. The sour pickles central to Eastern European cuisine, for example, were overshadowed in Western Europe by sweet pickles. Yet despite the British taste for pickles made with sugar syrup, pickle scholars say the success of the American sweet pickle should be credited to the Pennsylvania Dutch. The German immigrants, who settled around Philadelphia in the early 1700s, practiced a style of cooking that was predicated on the constant balance of sour and sweet, a philosophy that led to frequent tabletop appearances by gherkins.

During the 19th century, cookbooks regularly listed recipes for pickled fruits. While protecting delicate strawberries and grapes from spoilage in the pre-refrigeration era was the primary goal, home cooks also recognized the inherent magnificence of what blooms briefly in summertime. “Cantaloupes now rank among the real aristocrats of the food world,” Louise Gunton Royston in 1916 advised readers of Table Talk: The National Food Magazine.

The recipe
Royston suggested turning cantaloupes into sherbet, salads, preserves and pickles, boiled in a sugar-heavy solution of vinegar, cinnamon and cloves. Most contemporary recipes featured the same set of ingredients, although one of the three cantaloupe pickle recipes published in 1879’s “Housekeeping in Old Virginia” called for the melon to be boiled in “strong ginger tea,” and then seasoned with white ginger and mace, in addition to cinnamon.

Cinnamon and cloves were the spices included in The Sunday News’ recipe, which also specified cider vinegar and “Coffee C” sugar, apparently a brand produced by sugar manufacturer Stuart’s.

The update
“It was great,” says RJ Moody of Spero, who followed the original recipe pretty faithfully. “It’s very much like other fruit pickles I’ve made.”

Because the cinnamon and cloves reminded Moody of pho, a problem that likely didn’t afflict Charlestonians in 1917, he spiced the pickles with burnt ginger that he happened to have on hand.

Moody is considering developing a dish around the pickles next year.

“I’d definitely want to do something with country ham,” Moody says. “It’s a little on the sweeter side, which cries for salt to balance it out: It screamed like it needed pork.”

Published July 1, 1917:
Select melons that are not quite ripe; open, scrape out the pulp, peel, slice and lay in a weak brine overnight. The next morning boil in a weak alum water till transparent; lift out, drain, wipe dry, then drop into boiling spiced syrup and cook 20 minutes. To make the syrup, take three pints “Coffee C” sugar to one quart good cider vinegar. The spices commonly used for this variety of pickle are cloves and cinnamon, and the proportion two teaspoonfuls of the former and four tablespoons of the latter to each gallon.