From: dadams@cray.com (David Adams)
Subject: FAQ.brine.cure
Reply-To: dadams@cray.com
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 2 Sep 92 14:42:38 CDT

On a subject related to sourdough, brine cured pickles anyone?

---
--David C. Adams  Statistician  Cray Research Inc.  dadams@cray.com
___________________________________________________________________
       Old Sourdoughs never die.  They just ferment away.



From: atwater@labmed.ucsf.EDU (Susan Atwater)

Thanks again for all your help, and the articles you've sent.  I haven't
yet found the time to collect another batch of olives, but when I do I'll
put them in brine for a few weeks, and let you know the result.  

Susan Atwater


Editor:

	So far I don't think anybody has outlined the process of brine
	curing, especially as it pertains to curing olives.  I would take
	a crack at it, but I don't have any experience.  First I would
	like to know which, if any, spices are used in the brine for 
	olives?  I know that sometimes vinegar is used, especially for
	green olives, and sometimes not.

	I think the steps might go something like this, keeping in mind 
	this is a guess based on cucumber pickles, and I am not real likely 
	to get that close for olives, so I will state things in terms of
	*vegtables*.  I get this information from "Pickles & Relishes",
	by Andrea Chesman, A Garden Way Publishing Book, 1983.  
	ISBN 0-88266-321-6  see pp. 28-39, 68-71, 113.  The rest of the
	book is dedicated to conventional pickle making.  (Or I should
	say non-zymo or non-cultured pickle making.)  I am using the 
	outline from p. 30-32, but it is almost all my own words and
	commentary.  I recomend the book.

1	First wash the *vegtables*.  Do not use HOT water, as we don't want
	to kill micro-organisms.  Warm water is fine.  

2	Weigh the *vegtables*.  (Used to calculate how much salt to use.
	The book says this is important, but I don't see how as none of 
	the recipes use the calculation.)

3	Wash the crock (it can be a 5 gal plastic bucket) with hot soapy
	water.  Rinse and scald with boiling water.  Dry.

4	Prepare the brine.  (this will vary by the recipe.  You want the
	brine to be 2.5% salt.  The book doesn't say % by weight or what,
	but in another place it indicates that 1 1/2 tablespoons of granulated
	pickling salt to each quart of water should do the job.  p. 38.)
	Table salt might color the pickles.  (Ok no worry with olives.)
	In some recipes this will include vinegar.  The recipes for sauerkraut
	don't call for any vinegar, does the lactobacilli provide all that
	sourness?  The recipe on p. 68 for fermented dills does not call
	for any vinegar.  The recipe on p. 71 for cured dills calls for 2
	cups white vinegar for 2 gallons of water.  The recipe on p. 113 
	for green tomato crock pickles calls for 2 cups of vinegar for 2 
	gallons of water.

	Most recipes, but not all, recomend bringing the water to a boil
	to add the salt.  (and vinegar?  I would want to avoid boiling off
	the vinegar, so I might add it after the brine cools?)  They say to 
	do this to kill any micro-organisms in the water to give the 
	lactobacilli on the *vegetables* a better chance at taking over.  We 
	must note that curing in not a steril process like canning, but one 
	where we are trying to use a live culture like in sourdough.  Mix the 
	salt into the hot water.  The brine must cool before use or it will 
	kill any lactobacilli on the *vegtables*.   

	With the sauerkraut recipes you don't add any brine, but just mix
	salt with the sliced cabbage and weigh it down.  Beverly Erlebacher
	has recently submitted an excelent recipe/directions for making
	sauerkraut, so I won't go into that.  

PACK THE CROCK

5	Loading the crock varies according to the recipe.  Dill pickles are
	often packed in layers with layers of dill and spices between the 
	rows of cucumbers.  One recipe calls for laying the small cucumbers
	on the bottom so that they don't float as easily to the top.
	
	I suppose olives could just be packed free-form.

6	Pour (cooled) brine over the *vegetables*.  Use enough brine
	to cover the *vegetables*.

7	Place a large inverted plate over the vegetables and put a weight
	on it to hold the vegetables under the water.  

CURING THE PICKLES

8	The curing process (lacto-bacterial fermentation) should begin in
	a few days.  If you want the pickles to be half sour, or not as
	sour as fully cured pickles you can taste them every so often, and
	decide to stop the process.

9	Every day you should remove the scum that forms on the top of the
	brine.

10	Every day you should tap the sides of the crock gently to see if
	bubbles rise.  This indicates that fermentation continues. 
	Fermentation will stop sometime between two and four weeks.

11	Pickles should be stored in the fridge, or in some place just as
	cold.  For long term storage they should be canned.

	Pack the pickles into freshly cleaned canning jars.  The brine should
	be strained and boiled.  (You might use fresh brine, but then there
	are reasons for not doing this.  I would think that the brine has
	leached some of the flavor out of the pickles and you don't want
	to do it again.  If you are pickling jalepen~os you will lose alot
	of the hot it you pour the brine down the drain.)

	Pour the brine over the pickles in the jars, and seal the jars.
	You can process them in a steam canner for 15 minutes.


Here are some of the spices indicated in some of the recipes for two gallons
of brine

Fermented Dills p. 70

8 teaspoons mustard seeds 
40 cloves garlic
8 tablespoons dill seeds

This recipe indicates that these spices can be added if you wish at the 
canning stage.  I think I would pickle the spices.

Cured Dills p. 71

Line the bottom of the crock with grape leaves and dill leaves
and sprinkle it with mixed pickling spices. 

Repeat this between the layers of cucumbers.

Green Tomato Crock Pickles p. 113

Same as above, but without the grape leaves.



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