# How about a thread on pickling and such? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357 "2012-07-05T23:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/41 "2012-07-12T19:03:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Check to see if your husband likes the sweeter style of pickle, too. I _never_ use sugar in my pickles, but some commercial pickles use a good bit of sugar in them. My own recipe is just cukes, brine, dill, garlic, and sun for 3-5 days. He claims sweet (bread and butter) pickles are the devil, but I wonder if he wants some sugar, now that you mentioned it. At least once he’s said that a recipe was too harsh for the lining of his mouth. He’s a fan of drinking the pickle brine, too, but didn’t drink the ones I made. I’ve been trying to find these old “classic” canning pickle recipes, and I think he just wants a cleaner recipe. How do you do a “sun” pickle? I thought the traditional crock recipes that I’ve seen involve a dark, cool basement. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/42 "2012-07-12T19:32:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Check to see if your husband likes the sweeter style of pickle, too. I _never_ use sugar in my pickles, but some commercial pickles use a good bit of sugar in them. My own recipe is just cukes, brine, dill, garlic, and sun for 3-5 days. Are you going to make us beg? Okay. Recipe, please! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/43 "2012-07-12T19:38:47Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > He claims sweet (bread and butter) pickles are the devil, but I wonder if he wants some sugar, now that you mentioned it. At least once he’s said that a recipe was too harsh for the lining of his mouth. He’s a fan of drinking the pickle brine, too, but didn’t drink the ones I made. > > I’ve been trying to find these old “classic” canning pickle recipes, and I think he just wants a cleaner recipe. > > How do you do a “sun” pickle? I thought the traditional crock recipes that I’ve seen involve a dark, cool basement. [This is the recipe](http://www.food.com/recipe/dilly-sun-pickles-181892) I’ve used. My mother used to also add a slice of Polish rye bread on top to help speed up the fermentation process. The main thing is to have the right water:salt ratio. If you happen to have sourdough starter around for whatever reason, you can add a teaspoon of it, too, to the brine to help things get moving a little more quickly. This style of pickle is pretty common throughout the world. I remember staying for a few days at a private residence (kind of a B&B type of thing) in Uzbekistan, and waking up in the morning to see the proprietor lining up jar after jar (like three or four dozen) of pickling cucumbers in the sun to ferment. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/44 "2012-07-12T19:45:40Z")
My wife went to a pickling class last year, the result of which was one jar of dill and one jar of sweet. I was knocked out by the flavor of the dills and they’ve ruined store-bought pickles for me. Unfortunately, we have to wait until gherkins are back in season before she can make more, so I’ve been suffering with crappy mass-produced brands since last fall. I told her to dedicate one shelf of the fridge to pickles, but I don’t think she’s going for it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/45 "2012-07-12T20:53:12Z")
Why don’t you can them and dedicate one shelf of the pantry to pickles? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/46 "2012-07-13T03:20:21Z")
Not exactly pickling, but my brother handed me a load of raspberries. I was thinking about making jam but the berries had actually begun to ferment, so I spent this evening making raspberry coulis and raspberry cordial. I’m not sure if I can wait the recommended month to try the cordial! ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357/47 "2012-07-14T17:49:56Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > This may fall into the “…and such” part of the OP, but I have been making my own gravlax for years. It’s really curing, but still an easy and delicious project. > > 1 large filet of salmon with skin (I also frequently use Steel Head trout) > Sugar > Salt > Fresh Dill > Gin or Aquavit (optional) > > I use a 3-to-2 ratio of white sugar to kosher salt (some people prefer 1-to-1 ratio and some swear by brown sugar) > > -Place the fish skin-side down on a large piece of plastic wrap > -Rub with a little gin or Aquavit if wanted > -Coat liberally with sugar/salt mixture to completely cover fish > -Cover with fresh dill > -Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 days > > That’s it. When the 3 days are up, just rinse the sugar, salt and dill off and slice as thin as possible. Thanks for the recipe. I just bought some beautiful wild sockeye salmon and followed your directions. Only difference was that I also added some fennel greens in addition to the dill. Can’t wait to eat the salmon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-thread-on-pickling-and-such/627357.md?page=2)