By Kevin West – MotherEarthNews.com – 7/27/2015 8:57:00 AM

Making fermented pickles requires us get friendly with bacteria.

As discussed in my previous post, a pickle is nothing more than a vegetable preserved in an acidic brine. Acid is the silver bullet against botulism and also gives pickles their signature tangy taste. For quick pickles, often called vinegar pickles, the brine is acidified with vinegar.

In making fermented pickles, also called brined pickles or lacto-fermented pickles, the brine acidifies naturally, thanks to the activity of beneficial lactobacillus bacteria. The microbiology is fascinating and complex, but all you really need to know is that the beneficial lactobacillus bacteria occur naturally on the vegetables you’ll pickle, and the fermenter’s role is to encourage them to do their thing. In one sense, fermenting is akin to gardening. Gardening requires patience, diligence, and careful attention, but you don’t actually make the garden grow. Instead, you create the conditions for the garden to flourish as nature takes it course. Likewise, with fermenting, you don’t make the ferment bubble, but you do tend the microenvironment of your ferment in order to foster conditions favorable to the beneficial bacteria. And, just as the gardener takes steps to discourage weeds, you take steps to discourage undesirable microorganism such mold and yeast.

Some people prefer the unique, rich flavor of traditionally fermented pickles (kosher dills, for instance) to the sharper flavor of vinegar pickles, but to me the most significant difference between the two classes of pickles is that fermented pickles are a raw, live, pro-biotic food. (See Michael Pollan’s New York Times Magazine article here for an overview of research linking our bodies’microbiome, including gut flora, to health.) In my experience, the effect of fermented pickles on digestion is noticeable and beneficial.

Many firm vegetables—including cucumbers, summer squash, green beans, turnips, and green tomatoes—can be fermented. The only essential ingredients apart from the vegetables themselves are sea salt and bottled water.

The 6 Elements of Successful Fermenting

The six basic elements of all successful ferments are: vegetables, water, salt, aromatics, time, and care. At the bottom of this post, I’ll give you my Universal Fermenting Recipe, which is basically a simple ratio of salt to water with some added aromatics.

But the real secret to successful fermenting lies in your attention to the Six Elements, so I’ll start with each in turn.

Vegetables: As with all preserving, good results begin with good ingredients. Choose fresh, crisp, young vegetables picked at the height of the growing season. Rinse well, and trim the blossom end of cucumbers and squash to remove enzymes that can cause the pickle to soften. Vegetables can be sliced (zucchini spears), chunked (large cucumbers or squash), or left whole (green beans, small cucumbers, small green tomatoes).

As for greens: many dark leafy greens will develop an unpleasant chlorophyll taste. But when fermenting turnips I’ll sometimes add a handful of the tops, and trimmed chard stems make a good pickle.

Water: Tap water from municipal water systems has been treated with chlorine or chloramine to kill microbes. It will disrupt the beneficial bacteria you’re trying to encourage in your ferment. Always use bottled spring water instead.

Salt: Salt adds flavor, hardens the vegetables’ pectin to make pickles crunchy, and regulates bacterial growth. The brine will taste quite salty at first, but a portion of the salt is absorbed by the vegetables, and everything comes out right in the end.

Unrefined sea salt is the best choice. Salt’s weight-by-volume varies substantially with flake size, and sea salt will come closest to the recipe measurements. (Kosher salt, which is much flakier, will under-salt the brine.) Unrefined sea salt also contains trace minerals that yield a crunchier pickle.

Incidentally, there is no “right” amount of salt in a brine. The standard ratio of 5% salt by weight is a useful guideline, not a fixed rule. A less-salty brine will ferment faster, and extra salt will slow down a ferment. In summer’s heat, stick with the recipe below.

Aromatics: Be generous with aromatics, such as whole garlic cloves, sprigs of fresh dill and whole dill heads, and whole spices including black peppercorns, dill seeds, and caraway seeds. My recipe below gives suggestions, but don’t feel constrained by them. Other options include fresh horseradish, dried red chilies, and pearl onions.

Incidentally, one often sees the advice to add grape leaves or oak leaves to a ferment, the idea being that their tannins help crisp the pickle. It’s a nice touch, but not at all necessary.

Time: As mentioned, fermenting is a natural process, and it requires time to work. Warmer temperatures accelerate the process, and colder temperatures slow it down. In a comfortable room, around 70 degrees, the brine will begin to cloud in two days. Within three to four days, it will start to bubble and sour. The pickles will be half-sour in about a week, and fully sour in two weeks. At 80 degrees, the whole process might happen in a week. In a cool cellar, it might take three weeks or more. In a cold refrigerator, fermentation occurs imperceptibly over the course of months.

Care: Because of the variables inherent to each ferment (salt and temperature), the only way to judge your pickles’ process is to inspect them carefully. You can’t leave a crock or jar unattended for a week and expect good results. Instead, look at the pickles daily. Make sure they stay submerged (more on that below). Expect to find a thin film of yeast to form on the brine surface and maybe even tiny pinheads of mold. Don’t worry about these signs of life. Skim off the floaters and wipe the wall of the crock or jar if necessary. As long as you keep the micro-garden of your ferment well “weeded” by skimming daily, everything will be fine.

Once the pickles start to sour, taste daily. Once they are soured to your liking, put them in the fridge for keeping. They will last a month or longer.

Universal Fermented-Pickle Recipe

Yields about 2 quarts

2 pounds sturdy vegetables, such as Kirby cucumbers, small zucchini, green beans, baby turnips, or green tomatoes
• 6 4-inch sprigs fresh dill (including seed heads, if available)
• 6 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon dill seed
• 6 level tablespoons sea salt (2.25-2.5 ounces)
• 2 quarts bottled spring water

1. Wash and trim the vegetables, and pack into a one-gallon jar or crock. Tuck in the dill, garlic, and other aromatics as you go.

2. Dissolve the salt in the water, and pour over the vegetables to cover. Weight the vegetables with a plate so that they remain completely submerged. Alternatively, fill a Ziploc freezer bag with brine, and use it to submerge the vegetables. (Make extra brine using the same proportions if necessary). If using a jar, loosely close the lid. (Do not seal it so because gases produced by the ferment need to escape.) If using a crock, cover it with a plate or board to keep out unwanted visitors.

3. Store the ferment in a cool, dark place, and check daily. Skim any scum or flecks of mold. Insure that the vegetables remain submerged. The pickles will begin to sour in less than a week. You can eat them at any point in the fermenting process. Once soured to your likely, transfer the pickles to the refrigerator, and keep submerged in brine. They will keep for a month or longer.

By Connie Anderson    http://www.andalusiastarnews.com/

Our trips out West have me thinking more about pepper. We are growing several kinds: gypsy and banana are the sweeter ones and we have my favorite—jalapeño. The jalapeño was named for the town of Jalapa, Mexico, where it was originally marketed. The fruit skin may show a brown netting pattern called corkiness which does not affect the flavor. Because the thick fruit walls keep the pod from drying naturally on the plant, the mature red jalapeños may be dried by smoking them over mesquite or another hardwood, and the product is called chipotle. My husband has planted some seed of some other hot ones that interested him: chile de arbol which as the name says is to be tree like. He has also obtained seed of chiltipen. This is the wild ancestor of all Capsicum annuum varieties. It likes to grow in dappled shade and is a perennial plant. If a freeze occurs it can come back from the root. It produces a small round hot pod. He also has a Texas bird pepper which is similar to the chiltipen. His hero, Thomas Jefferson, grew the bird pepper. Several of these seeds have come from Native Seeds in Tucson, Ariz., which does a nice job of promoting sustainable gardening and saving seeds from sources in the western deserts. We like to visit every time we go to Tucson. I buy beans and other products. My husband buys plants and seeds, although the plant sale this year was another month away. One of their seasons is the monsoon season in July which gives a lot of plants a good start.

Capsicum species are members of the family Solanaceae, the nightshade family, which includes eggplant, petunia, potato, tobacco, and tomato. They are not related to the black pepper, Piper nigrum, which is a tropical vine. Botanically, chile peppers are perennial subshrubs when grown in their native habitats but we in the more temperate areas grow them as annuals.

Chiles originated in the Americas. By the time the Spanish arrived in Mexico there were already dozens of varieties. Christopher Columbus, too, sent seed back to the Old World and they were planted extensively in the Portuguese and Spanish colonies resulting in even more diversification. Within 100years, chiles had circumnavigated the world and were growing everywhere in temperate and tropical climates.

Our favorite place to stop when we pass through Las Cruces, N.M., is in the old town of Mesilla which, of note, was the Confederate capital of the Arizona Territory. We love the posole at Ándele. This year we discovered something new (to us, anyway) — a pickled jalapeño. We learned we needed to roast the mature jalapeño, peel it and soak it in soy sauce and lime juice (3:1 ratio) for three days. Less time and it will be hotter. We really liked this pepper.

Last year I bought The Complete Chile Pepper Book. To roast and peel pepper pods, first cut a small slit in the pod close to the stem end so that the steam can escape. The pods can be placed on a baking sheet and put directly under the broiler, or on a metal screen on top of a burner. The author suggests the easiest method is to use a barbecue grill. Place the pods on a grill 5 to 6 inches from the coals or gas flames and turn them often. Blisters will soon form, indicating that the skin is separating. Be sure that the pods are blistered all over before you take them off the grill or they will not peel properly. The pods may burn slightly, but take care that they do not blacken entirely or they will be overcooked and will be nearly impossible to peel.

Taken from The Everything Tex-Mex Cookbook by Linda Larsen.

Jalapeño Poppers

Makes 24

12 small jalapeño peppers

¼ pound chorizo sausage

1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese

2 eggs, beaten

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

¼ cup cornmeal

¼ cup flour

½ cup finely crushed corn flakes, cereal

Vegetable oil

1 cup Nacho Cheese Sauce

Cut jalapeño peppers in half and gently remove seeds and membranes. In heavy skillet, over medium heat, brown chorizo sausage until thoroughly cooked; drain and let cool for 10 minutes. Mix with cheese.

Stuff the cheese filling into jalapeño halves. Combine eggs, salt, and pepper in shallow bowl. Combine cornmeal, flour, and crushed cereal in another shallow bowl. Dip each stuffed jalapeño in egg, then into cornmeal mixture to coat. Set on plate, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.

When ready to serve, heat 1” of vegetable oil in deep heavy skillet over medium heat until temperature reaches 350 degrees F. Fry stuffed jalapeños for 2-4 minutes until brown and crisp. Serve with warmed Nacho Cheese Sauce.

By David Holloway | dholloway@al.com ; www.al.com
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on July 08, 2015 at 7:27 AM, updated July 08, 2015 at 1:35 PM
In particular, I don’t think I expound enough on the tremendous joys that can be derived from the simple joys of selecting, slicing and eating a locally grown watermelon.  It occurred to me the other day that I don’t write nearly enough about the stuff that’s going on around me.

I hear you, I realize that it doesn’t take much to actually amuse me or get my attention. I’m a sucker for a seal playing a song, for instance.

But when it comes to watermelons I confess to a certain myopia when it comes to watermelons. I tend to look past them until it’s too late.

Coastal Alabama, where I hang my hat, is home to some of the finest, sweetest melons to found anywhere. Right, I hear you again say that just about every section of every state can also claim to raise the best watermelons.

Everybody claims to have the right mixture of soil – some say acidic, some say alkali – and climate – some claim rain is the key, others say drier is better. But whatever the reason, good watermelons abound in just about corner of this great nation.

The right and proper method of eating a melon is the tried-and-true method of slicing it open and eating it on the porch. It also makes wonderful salads and the juice is a marvelous base for a number of tasty (ahem) beverages.

But one aspect of the watermelon-eating experience that is often overlooked, that being the part of the melon you come in contact with first – the rind.

Somebody a long, long time ago figured out that with a little bit of finagling you could take the outer layer of the watermelon and turn it into something really special, namely watermelon rind pickles.

Watermelon rind pickles are, to me, the epitome of old-school thriftiness and frugality. I can’t say for certain who was the first person to repurpose the green hide of the melon into a topping for biscuits, toasts or just about anything else that need a sweet topping. But whoever it was was very smart and resourceful and I thank the Lord for them.

So the next time you bring home a watermelon for the family to enjoy on one of these unbearably hot July afternoons, make sure you don’t throw out the rind. You will thank me for it later.

Watermelon Rind Pickles

8 servings

Ingredients:

1 pound watermelon rind (from a 3-pound piece watermelon)

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon coarse salt

1½ cups cider vinegar

1½ cups sugar

2 tablespoons pickling spice

Instructions:

Using a vegetable peeler, peel outer skin and tough green layer from watermelon rind; cut rind into 2-by- 1/2-inch strips.

In a medium saucepan, combine 5 cups water with 3 tablespoons salt; bring to a boil. Add rind. Cook at a rapid simmer over medium-high until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a heatproof bowl (reserve saucepan).

In reserved saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, pickling spice, remaining teaspoon salt, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt; pour hot liquid into bowl with rind. Use a small plate to submerge rind into liquid. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to a container; cover and refrigerate in liquid at least 2 hours and up to 2 weeks.