I have lots of favorites, but the most idiosyncratic are rutabaga's cut into 1 cm, square 'sticks' pickled in apple cider vinegar (excellent with any fish or roasted meat), and freshly salted cod fillets mixed with onion, rutabaga, and some generic 'pickling spice', all put into a home made vinegar made of 'Porter' style beer. The cod preserves beautifully- I usually have it with sour cream and crisped bread. As a boy, I ate buckets of 'Bread and Butter' pickles along with bread and butter sandwiches- isn't that where the name comes from?
Kovászos uborka from Hungary!!!! I recently got a bread & butter pickle recipe to try and that was fantastic as well so those are my favorites to make.
Greetings from Poland - we also know a thing or two about pickled and fermented foods 🤟 (little horseradish root goes a long way with pickled cucumberoonies)
I live in the Netherlands and starting about 15 years ago, supermarkets started to sell Polish pickles for the Polish diaspora. I couldn't be happier. Cloudy Polish pickles are much better than sweet and sour Dutch pickles.
For fermented pickles; 1. You only trim the blossom end because it has an enzyme that turns pickles to mush. They don't need any help to soak through, so leave the stem end alone. 2. Line the bottom of your fermentation vessel with Black Currant leaves- they keep your pickles crunchy longer.
If your cucumbers experience stress or at picked too late the stem end will contain bitter compounds that can ruin the flavor. Best practice is to remove that end as well.
Also, I'm not sure how Andong does it here, but make sure the brine is at room temperature before adding it to the cucumbers. If you pour boiling brine on them, it's going to kill all the microbes and the fermentation is going to be a non-starter.
@@elpukito oh right, that's the thing i forgot in my other comment 😅 it definitely looks like the jar is slightly fogging up while he pours the brine, so it's at least "hot". good catch
In Hungary we have something called kovászos uborka. The procedure to make it is almost the same as the lacto-fermented cucumbers, except we add a slice of bread on top of it. The yeast in the bread causes the fermentation. And instead of the fridge, we put it outside, to a hot, sunny place. The fermentation is done in a few days, then we put it in the fridge to preserve it.
lactic acid bacteria strains do the lacto-ferment process, yeast has nothing to do with it. yeast would create mostly alcohol - that is if it was still alive in the bread (baking the bread kills the yeast). from my (somewhat limited-) research: traditionally bread was used as a source of food for the lactic acid bacteria (leftover sugar, maybe even starch), but it's entirely unnecessary and it's messy too. you could use the same sugars the LABs eat if you wanted to boost the lactic acid results (don't need much, otherwise yeast could bloom and take over the ferment). i know, because i've grown up with the same traditions, but once i looked into making my own, i found out it's just that - tradition / habit.
In my childhood my Hungarian grandmother would make her own pickles and pickled tomatoes. I loved the pickles but wasn't sure about the tomatoes. As an adult, I have found the recipes for them and LOVE them! I now make Kovászos uborka all the time and introduced them back to my family, the newer generation, and to our friends when we have a summer szalonna in our backyard in NY, USA when I'm home from teaching at a university in China.
6:31 A hint for out of season pickling: have a look at your local eastern european supermarket (or online). You can buy just the dill seeds and use those in addition to fresh dill greens.
Yes, "Gewürz" means spice. But they are spiced, not spicy. And that perfectly describes what they are. Otherwise they'd be called "Scharfe Gurken". Seems Andong tried so hard to make a joke that he had to mistranslate to make it work.
@@floydblandston108the pungency of horseradish, wasabi or “hot” mustard that you feel mostly in the nasal passages and sinuses is induced by allyl isothiocyanate and is very different to the “heat” sensation you get from the capsaicin in hot chilies. It really shouldn’t even be described using the same word.
@@antonc81 - If it's language you're looking to police, 'spicy' itself is a stupid word, as it can simultaneously describe both gingersnaps and red chili. Anyway, thanks for describing what food tastes like for me...🙄
just two notes for people wanting to make there own pickles. Two choices effect texture most. if you want your pickles to stay crispy, even in the later stages of lacto ferment, you need some tannin. If you can get grape vine leaves, just a torn leaf or two in with the aromatics will do the trick. black current or even horse radish leaves are also full of tannin and popular choices. if you can't get any of these, then tea will do the trick just as well... it will just colour your pickling water. Make a really strong cup of tea (2 or 3 teabags). then use this instead of regular water to mix with the salt. This also works with vinegar pickles, just add a tablespoon full of the tea to the vinegar and sugar. the second texture note is whether to do a cold or hot pickle. if the vinegar and salt and and sugar is brought to a boil for 5 minutes and then poured over the vegetables and aromatics, it gives you that slightly jelly/candy feel to the texture. like cocktail gherkins. it also further kills bacteria etc, of course. many korean and japanese pickle recipes call for putting your vegetable to be pickled right into the boiling vinegar mix, boiling for 2-5 minutes, and then putting in jars. this intensifies the texture changes even more... pickled radish is ideal this way... but is also pretty great for long-sliced cucumber wedges.
My partner is a huge gherkin fan, can happily eat a whole jar while watching a movie. I'm more of a pickled egg fan. A pint of Guinness & a couple of pickled eggs & I'm happy. Pickled onions are good too, especially small silverskin one. Great with cheese or even better, three together on a cocktail stick in a Gibson martini! 🍸🍸 Something that takes ages to prepare, but is worth it is peeling a pile of tiny, tiny pearl onions & pickling them in balsamic vinegar! (I can eat them like sweeties). 🧅 Great video, looking forward to the rest in the series. 🥒
In Turkey you get German or Turkish style pickles with the Kühne brand. I enjoy the German style in sandwiches. I also ferment my own all around the year but it’s always better with the pickling cucumbers you get around autumn.
This is a great video, Andong. I am trying to get into making my own pickles and canned preserved fruits and vegetables. I particularly want to try more lactofermentation. However, I am unsure of the food safety surrounding it, particularly with lactofermentation and don't want to accidentally harm myself or my family (Botulism is my main concern, as it doesn't affect the taste, colour, or texture as far as I can tell through my own research, and can be fatal). A video on how to safely lactoferment vegetables and do canning (and what bad signs to look for in cases of unsafe fermentations) would be wonderful.
Acidic foods are extremely good at suppressing harmful pathogens - I would recommend getting a canning kit to start - with forceps, special canning jars - you will also need a metal dutch oven style pot - watch a few canning videos and you'll get the hang of it on how to vacuum seal foods. You could also forego canning entirely and get vacuum sealing tech.
With lactofermented vegetables, you can use a ph meter (or strips) and check, that the liquid is indeed turning sour during the first couple days. You need to end up at 4,6 or lower. Botulism bacteria can't grow or produce toxins at that ph. If the ph doesn't drop or it looks or smells funky, just throw it out and start fresh. Canning I don't do, but I know that you can look up the official, FDA approved method for that easily. There's a website that tells you exactly how to proceed for maximum food safety. Please read that in addition to looking for advice here on TH-cam, as botulism is indeed a concern with canned food.
Botulism is anaerobic. Can you really get it when lacto fermenting fruits and veggies? Lacto fermentation won't work without oxygen and botulism won't work with oxygen.
@@stariyczedun Lactofermenting is anaerobic... it's only possible without oxygen thats why you need a liquid that fully covers whatever you're fermenting.
Botulism fears are usually overblown- acid/salt/and sugar are your friends here- and a basic boiling water bath will preserve such things without worry.
I'm reminded of the Chinese soy sauce ones 辣油花瓜! I used to eat them as a side to my 粥 until I just took to eating them on their own. Nostalgic for me, along with the pickled radishes 辣椒蘿蔔
in sweden its called 1.2.3 fast pickle its always the same 1 part viniger 12% 2 parts sugar and 3 parts water! it works with red onions ore white as condiments to burgers meatballs or other swedish foods
I'm living in a part of Oslo that presumably has a rather large Polish population because all the stores (even the regular chain stores) here have Polish lacto-fermented pickles. I love them. So much crunchier and flavourful than the Norwegian sweet and sour vinegar pickles.
My grandma made pickles once (usually pickles are pickled with other veg, this time she just did pure cucumber) and it was so good. Usually the store bought ones here are just sour, but hers had some sweetness in them and I gobbled them up in a couple days. I really wanna try to make my own, but I cannot get small cucumbers here that easily.
You should try Danish asier, a sweet vinegar pickle that has a very special taste. Excellent and quite unique. I love all kinds of pickles-half sour kosher pickles and Middle Eastern turnip pickles are probably my faves, but I love asier as well!
One thing to mention about the flower ends of cucumbers is that they contain an enzyme which will make fermented cucumbers softer. Also you might want to add tannins if you want them to be even a bit crispy later on in the fermentation process.
I've always thought the bread and butter pickles were called that because one family invented the specific flavor profile which was unlike most others at the time. They called it their "bread and butter" because the sale of them helped to keep the family business from going under
As someone who adores everything pickled. This video had me hooked, and you never fail to deliver! Whether it's something I love, or had never thought about, your in depth and nuanced guide to everything I want to eat, slaps as much as the food. ~best
Loved your video, but gotta say that while I have never made vinegar pickles I frequently make lacto-fermented pickled cucumbers, among other vegetables, and to keep cucumbers crunchy you need to add tannin. Oak leaves or horse radish leaves work wonders. Without the tannin, after a few weeks of pickling, cucumbers lose all crunchiness.
I'm personally also a fan of "mustard pickles (senfgurken)" i cannot tell you why but the soft yet crunchy texture and sweet but also savoury flavour is just YESSS
An old family friend used to make sweet watermelon rind pickles, using the white part of the watermelon rind. She dyed them red and green with food coloring. They were wonderful!
I fermented a mix of vegetables this year. Cabbage, cucumber, carrot, paprika, radish and some other stuff in a fermentation pot, just to give it a try and I boosted the brine with some buttermilk. After 3 weeks, when I thought, it must be have be ready, it seemed spoiled, but it was just kahm yeast and it ended up to be pretty good. Sometimes I mixed a portion with some Gojujang. I call it scam kimchi.
Greetings from the US. I recently moved to New York from another state in the US and realized I'd lost access to many things, including Milwaukee Pickles. Seriously, if you are in the Midwest of the US don't skip these they are a family favorite!
my go-to is kimchi sauce with cucumbers. In the US, pickle juice is sometimes a life saver on long rides if you get dehydrated. Some people swear by pickle juice for fighting muscle cramps when you're 80 miles into a 100 mile ride
I've done "refrigerator pickles" with green beans and carrots from my garden, and they were really nice. Not sure where they fit within "pickle culture", I tried doing lacto pickle for hot sauce and idk if I did it right
Darn it! My mouth watered through this whole video. Now I need to ransacked my fridge and see what kinds of pickles are in there! Bread and Butter pickles have been my favorite snacking pickle for years but there are times that you just have to have a good sour dill pickle!
2 to 3% is usual salt/water brine ratio, by weight. you can use a single leaf of grape or certain trees, to prevent mushy skin. dont cut ends off. use a ph test kit and when 5.0 reached it's ready for long term storage in cool area, i.e. shut down fermentation..unless you like explosive jars
the 4% brine is kinda "handwavy", if you want to be precise - which is great for reproducibility and for troubleshooting if something goes wrong, not to mention dealing with different brine:vegetable ratios - use 2% salt by total weight (water + vegetable). you can go higher, though it's quite salty already, and maybe even go lower, but not by much, otherwise you might get unwanted results (salt inhibits/slows the bad microbes' growth). also try to keep everything under the brine, don't let anything float on the top, otherwise you risk having mold - the risk goes away after a while, as the ferment releases CO2, it will sit on top of the ferment and protect it from oxygen (mold loves oxygen). if you see mold, just throw the whole batch out and start over - your health is worth more than the few dollars spent on the ferment. and "burp" the ferment (about daily should be fine, just open the lid slightly and let it hiss) or use an airlock, otherwise you risk turning the jar into a bomb, because the released gas will build up pressure
I ferment my own quail eggs and they amazing, I always try different herbs. I honestly accidentally fermented them and the first few times I threw them away as I thought they were off but didn’t realise it was fine.
I remember watching a video about chinese pickling traditions or cuisine and just loving the fact that some households have like an urn or pot where they keep their brine and pickles (all sorts of vegetables), from which they eat the pieces they want and keep adding more vegetables everyday or on a regular basis (in a continuous fashion). I may remember all this wrong, but I like the idea.
Euell Gibbons wrote a famous book called 'Stalking the Wild Asparagus" back in the 1960's that had a whole chapter describing this process- it's very, very simple.
Hi Andong, in countless guides to lacto-fermantion I've over and over heard the number of 2,5% salt solution. And it was always stressed that keeping it about that salinity is optimal for the bacteria you want and it shouldn't be much more or less. I've tried that myself and it works well. Now you use 4% salinity which is quite a bit more. I guess you got this from somewhere, too, and tried it. Have you tried ca. 2,5% as well? At which salinity do you get better results?
Fun fact: some people who struggle with period pain drink the pickle brine from their pickles to alleviate cramps. I tried it myself and it actually works for me too. The minerals in that solution make it a great cocktail for your muscles to relax.
Middle eastern pickles are my favourite. I have tried lebanese and iranian, both are with vinegar, salt och 0 sugar. The sweetness makes it weird. I guess that is something you want if you are doing a relish with the pickle, but as a stand alone snack, I want it to be just sour, garlicy, crisp and salty.
Kosher pickles probly gets its name from using the kosher salt, which is called kosher due to the salt being used the koshering process used for taking the blood out of meat
What kind of pickles would you recommend for burgers? I have to admit I'm a sucker for the pickles at fastfood places like Subway, Burger King or McDonalds. I haven't found the perfect fit for that here in Germany though.
Try plain white vinegar 'refrigerator' pickles. Make as few as you want- slice, add vinegar to cover, and let sit for at least 24 hours. You can also do this with the onions!
Learned something. I have to say I avoided the 'milky' pickles. They just looked 'off' to me. Now, I will have to give them a real go. Thanks for the informative video! My current favorites in Germany are Specht Gewürz Gurken and Specht Prager Gurken.
I like sweet pickles, actually, haha. When I make quick pickles, I always add some sugar to balance the sourness of the vinegar. I guess I just like sweet and sour foods.
Lacto fermented is the only way to go with any foods especially pickles. Imagine middle eastern food with those pickles 😍 falafel with labne grilled chicken hummus garlic sauce and hot sauce with pita bread. That’s just one example.
Personally I love cornichon but cannot stand the other pickles variety I've tried, I think they were mainly the sweet and sour ones they use in burger places and stuff. It's a bit annoying cause in France they translate every kind of pickle as cornichon no matter the variety. Tho I think my dislike is a texture issue, like with onions so the small crunchyness of cornichon don't trigger it, I also just love sour food... maybe I could try the lacto fermented one one day.
Babushkas lacto-fermented cucumbers will always be my favourite! Dill sticks, garlic, black currant leaves in the brine are awesome! And a touch of vodka on top! Малосольные вот не очень как-то, а солёные это бомба!
We make 'pickle relish' from the odd few cukes that hide each year until they are baguette size. They are run through the meat grinder on 'coarse' and left to drain in a colander, then we add sugar, mustard seed, pickle brine, and can in jars using boiling water.
Hey Andong, you are going to have to come back to the pickle thingy here. You could do a whole video just about the american pickle. Also I was under the imporession that the cloudyness of the picklewater was do to the anti cakeing chemicals on the salt..that is why you have to use kosher salt to make kosher pickles. Can you clear that one up? then you should talk about the big american pickles that are being sold for 5 euros at the american candy stores. Those pickles taste great. What about the pickles that Mcdonalds uses? Lets talk about the german pickles!! Why don`t they make a pickle without the sugar. Sure those pickles are good but they are limited in use. It would be nice to have a pickle without the salt. I made my own this year. I bought the cucumbers in the russian mini max markt. They had just about everything and the price was ok too. I did like the tumeric tip for the american pickles...but there is way more in the jar those pickles are crunchy..ahhh pickles you need to revisit the whole pickle thing...I will be waiting
There is a very popular fast food chicken chain here in the United States that is known to brine their chicken in sour pickle brine. It is so popular that many Americans marinate chicken breast with it now, for flavour and to result in a juicy chicken breast. I highly recommend you try this, the result is absolutely delicious
This is the opposite of what I do: Buy sour, make vinegar. I've never had success with making fermented pickles, I suspect my climate is just too warm.
Bread and butter pickles are great as a sandwich with bread and butter. Any alternative theory will have to present a lot of evidence to overcome that.
I've never had a good pickle that comes in a glass jar. You have to pick them yourself and put in a bag from this shady huge ass barrel that's located in the supermarket. Edit: Well, guess I found the issue. Scandinavian pickles... No sugar in my pickles, thank you. Too bad that's the only type you can buy here in Finland except for the ones that come in the gnarly barrel...
I love doing my own cucumbers and Eggplant-pickles. Both vinegar-pickled. I got the recipe from my Grandma (Safta) from Israel. And I get your struggle with getting the right cucumber oder Eggplants over here in Germany. I usually get them from the turkish or lebanese markets around town, but with the cucumber "Snack-Gurken" are usually doing the trick as well (they are just quite expensive). I pickle them with lemon-vinegar, salt, chillies and Dill. The Eggplants are nearly the same I just replace the dill with beetroot for color.
Honorable (honorary? whatever...) shoutout to ARTE by the way, if you speak German their "Karambolage" intercultural explainer about pickles ("Gurken") is very funny and very well done. (th-cam.com/video/o4-gps_Pf2U/w-d-xo.html)
I just want to say that using Russian terminology for pickles is simply offensive to all nations that are much better in pickling and got invaded by Russians for recent 300 years.
What's your favorite pickle? 🥒 Try Rocket Money for free: RocketMoney.com/Andong
Only works with american bank accounts
I love pretty much all pickles BUT I hate store bought pickles with artificial sweeteners. Yuck!
Sweet'n'Sour and herby
I have lots of favorites, but the most idiosyncratic are rutabaga's cut into 1 cm, square 'sticks' pickled in apple cider vinegar (excellent with any fish or roasted meat), and freshly salted cod fillets mixed with onion, rutabaga, and some generic 'pickling spice', all put into a home made vinegar made of 'Porter' style beer. The cod preserves beautifully- I usually have it with sour cream and crisped bread. As a boy, I ate buckets of 'Bread and Butter' pickles along with bread and butter sandwiches- isn't that where the name comes from?
Kovászos uborka from Hungary!!!! I recently got a bread & butter pickle recipe to try and that was fantastic as well so those are my favorites to make.
I read "A femboys guide to pickles" - enough internet for today. Great video as always Andong
Femboy Andong would be great lmao
@@Lara-dr8is Agreed!
For lacto-fermenting Persian cucumbers, instead of dill & garlic, use basil, garlic, and red onion.
I’ll have to try this out, nice recommendation!!
My favorite are the German variant that you forgot. Senfgurken. They are probably the thing I miss the most since moving to the north.
Greetings from Poland - we also know a thing or two about pickled and fermented foods 🤟 (little horseradish root goes a long way with pickled cucumberoonies)
And an oak leaf!
It's a common thing for all the slavs. Can't imagine any Babushka without pickles
I firmly stand by horseradish leaves, garlic and dill for my cucumbers. Nothing else. Greetings from Latvia!
@@stJules - I use Black Currant leaves in both sauerkraut and pickled cucumbers . I was told it helps them stay crunchy....
I live in the Netherlands and starting about 15 years ago, supermarkets started to sell Polish pickles for the Polish diaspora. I couldn't be happier. Cloudy Polish pickles are much better than sweet and sour Dutch pickles.
For fermented pickles;
1. You only trim the blossom end because it has an enzyme that turns pickles to mush. They don't need any help to soak through, so leave the stem end alone.
2. Line the bottom of your fermentation vessel with Black Currant leaves- they keep your pickles crunchy longer.
addition: any tannin containing spices/leaves help denaturing the enzymes you mentioned
If your cucumbers experience stress or at picked too late the stem end will contain bitter compounds that can ruin the flavor. Best practice is to remove that end as well.
Also, I'm not sure how Andong does it here, but make sure the brine is at room temperature before adding it to the cucumbers. If you pour boiling brine on them, it's going to kill all the microbes and the fermentation is going to be a non-starter.
@@elpukito oh right, that's the thing i forgot in my other comment 😅
it definitely looks like the jar is slightly fogging up while he pours the brine, so it's at least "hot". good catch
In Hungary we have something called kovászos uborka. The procedure to make it is almost the same as the lacto-fermented cucumbers, except we add a slice of bread on top of it. The yeast in the bread causes the fermentation. And instead of the fridge, we put it outside, to a hot, sunny place. The fermentation is done in a few days, then we put it in the fridge to preserve it.
lactic acid bacteria strains do the lacto-ferment process, yeast has nothing to do with it. yeast would create mostly alcohol - that is if it was still alive in the bread (baking the bread kills the yeast).
from my (somewhat limited-) research: traditionally bread was used as a source of food for the lactic acid bacteria (leftover sugar, maybe even starch), but it's entirely unnecessary and it's messy too. you could use the same sugars the LABs eat if you wanted to boost the lactic acid results (don't need much, otherwise yeast could bloom and take over the ferment).
i know, because i've grown up with the same traditions, but once i looked into making my own, i found out it's just that - tradition / habit.
In my childhood my Hungarian grandmother would make her own pickles and pickled tomatoes. I loved the pickles but wasn't sure about the tomatoes. As an adult, I have found the recipes for them and LOVE them! I now make Kovászos uborka all the time and introduced them back to my family, the newer generation, and to our friends when we have a summer szalonna in our backyard in NY, USA when I'm home from teaching at a university in China.
6:31 A hint for out of season pickling: have a look at your local eastern european supermarket (or online). You can buy just the dill seeds and use those in addition to fresh dill greens.
"Germans don't know what spicy means, so I think we're safe" 😅😂😂😂
Yes, "Gewürz" means spice. But they are spiced, not spicy. And that perfectly describes what they are. Otherwise they'd be called "Scharfe Gurken". Seems Andong tried so hard to make a joke that he had to mistranslate to make it work.
I’d call that a burn, but it’s really not hot enough.
If you don't think Germans like 'hot' food, your horseradish is too old- buy some fresh.
@@floydblandston108the pungency of horseradish, wasabi or “hot” mustard that you feel mostly in the nasal passages and sinuses is induced by allyl isothiocyanate and is very different to the “heat” sensation you get from the capsaicin in hot chilies. It really shouldn’t even be described using the same word.
@@antonc81 - If it's language you're looking to police, 'spicy' itself is a stupid word, as it can simultaneously describe both gingersnaps and red chili. Anyway, thanks for describing what food tastes like for me...🙄
just two notes for people wanting to make there own pickles. Two choices effect texture most.
if you want your pickles to stay crispy, even in the later stages of lacto ferment, you need some tannin. If you can get grape vine leaves, just a torn leaf or two in with the aromatics will do the trick. black current or even horse radish leaves are also full of tannin and popular choices. if you can't get any of these, then tea will do the trick just as well... it will just colour your pickling water. Make a really strong cup of tea (2 or 3 teabags). then use this instead of regular water to mix with the salt. This also works with vinegar pickles, just add a tablespoon full of the tea to the vinegar and sugar.
the second texture note is whether to do a cold or hot pickle. if the vinegar and salt and and sugar is brought to a boil for 5 minutes and then poured over the vegetables and aromatics, it gives you that slightly jelly/candy feel to the texture. like cocktail gherkins. it also further kills bacteria etc, of course.
many korean and japanese pickle recipes call for putting your vegetable to be pickled right into the boiling vinegar mix, boiling for 2-5 minutes, and then putting in jars. this intensifies the texture changes even more... pickled radish is ideal this way... but is also pretty great for long-sliced cucumber wedges.
Your old Spreewald video is one of my favourites. I still rewatch it every now and then. Gary is amazing. I hope he's doing well.
My partner is a huge gherkin fan, can happily eat a whole jar while watching a movie. I'm more of a pickled egg fan. A pint of Guinness & a couple of pickled eggs & I'm happy. Pickled onions are good too, especially small silverskin one. Great with cheese or even better, three together on a cocktail stick in a Gibson martini! 🍸🍸 Something that takes ages to prepare, but is worth it is peeling a pile of tiny, tiny pearl onions & pickling them in balsamic vinegar! (I can eat them like sweeties). 🧅
Great video, looking forward to the rest in the series. 🥒
In Turkey you get German or Turkish style pickles with the Kühne brand. I enjoy the German style in sandwiches. I also ferment my own all around the year but it’s always better with the pickling cucumbers you get around autumn.
This is a great video, Andong. I am trying to get into making my own pickles and canned preserved fruits and vegetables. I particularly want to try more lactofermentation. However, I am unsure of the food safety surrounding it, particularly with lactofermentation and don't want to accidentally harm myself or my family (Botulism is my main concern, as it doesn't affect the taste, colour, or texture as far as I can tell through my own research, and can be fatal). A video on how to safely lactoferment vegetables and do canning (and what bad signs to look for in cases of unsafe fermentations) would be wonderful.
Acidic foods are extremely good at suppressing harmful pathogens - I would recommend getting a canning kit to start - with forceps, special canning jars - you will also need a metal dutch oven style pot - watch a few canning videos and you'll get the hang of it on how to vacuum seal foods. You could also forego canning entirely and get vacuum sealing tech.
With lactofermented vegetables, you can use a ph meter (or strips) and check, that the liquid is indeed turning sour during the first couple days. You need to end up at 4,6 or lower. Botulism bacteria can't grow or produce toxins at that ph.
If the ph doesn't drop or it looks or smells funky, just throw it out and start fresh.
Canning I don't do, but I know that you can look up the official, FDA approved method for that easily. There's a website that tells you exactly how to proceed for maximum food safety. Please read that in addition to looking for advice here on TH-cam, as botulism is indeed a concern with canned food.
Botulism is anaerobic. Can you really get it when lacto fermenting fruits and veggies? Lacto fermentation won't work without oxygen and botulism won't work with oxygen.
@@stariyczedun Lactofermenting is anaerobic... it's only possible without oxygen thats why you need a liquid that fully covers whatever you're fermenting.
Botulism fears are usually overblown- acid/salt/and sugar are your friends here- and a basic boiling water bath will preserve such things without worry.
I'm reminded of the Chinese soy sauce ones 辣油花瓜! I used to eat them as a side to my 粥 until I just took to eating them on their own. Nostalgic for me, along with the pickled radishes 辣椒蘿蔔
in sweden its called 1.2.3 fast pickle its always the same 1 part viniger 12% 2 parts sugar and 3 parts water! it works with red onions ore white as condiments to burgers meatballs or other swedish foods
I'm living in a part of Oslo that presumably has a rather large Polish population because all the stores (even the regular chain stores) here have Polish lacto-fermented pickles. I love them. So much crunchier and flavourful than the Norwegian sweet and sour vinegar pickles.
My grandma made pickles once (usually pickles are pickled with other veg, this time she just did pure cucumber) and it was so good. Usually the store bought ones here are just sour, but hers had some sweetness in them and I gobbled them up in a couple days. I really wanna try to make my own, but I cannot get small cucumbers here that easily.
You should try Danish asier, a sweet vinegar pickle that has a very special taste. Excellent and quite unique. I love all kinds of pickles-half sour kosher pickles and Middle Eastern turnip pickles are probably my faves, but I love asier as well!
5:59 Hey! That's a perfectly average sized cucumber!
One thing to mention about the flower ends of cucumbers is that they contain an enzyme which will make fermented cucumbers softer. Also you might want to add tannins if you want them to be even a bit crispy later on in the fermentation process.
Achar is just the generic term for spiced pickle, not just cucumbers -- there's mango achar, mustard leaf achar, all sorts!
Mango achar sounds delightful!
I've always thought the bread and butter pickles were called that because one family invented the specific flavor profile which was unlike most others at the time. They called it their "bread and butter" because the sale of them helped to keep the family business from going under
As someone who adores everything pickled. This video had me hooked, and you never fail to deliver! Whether it's something I love, or had never thought about, your in depth and nuanced guide to everything I want to eat, slaps as much as the food. ~best
Loved your video, but gotta say that while I have never made vinegar pickles I frequently make lacto-fermented pickled cucumbers, among other vegetables, and to keep cucumbers crunchy you need to add tannin. Oak leaves or horse radish leaves work wonders. Without the tannin, after a few weeks of pickling, cucumbers lose all crunchiness.
I love mało solne cucumbers❤ and also pickled tomatoes and Scallopini are great
as a cucumber hater/pickle lover, nothing makes me sadder than a quick or half-sour pickle 😂
I'm personally also a fan of "mustard pickles (senfgurken)" i cannot tell you why but the soft yet crunchy texture and sweet but also savoury flavour is just YESSS
An old family friend used to make sweet watermelon rind pickles, using the white part of the watermelon rind. She dyed them red and green with food coloring.
They were wonderful!
I fermented a mix of vegetables this year. Cabbage, cucumber, carrot, paprika, radish and some other stuff in a fermentation pot, just to give it a try and I boosted the brine with some buttermilk. After 3 weeks, when I thought, it must be have be ready, it seemed spoiled, but it was just kahm yeast and it ended up to be pretty good. Sometimes I mixed a portion with some Gojujang. I call it scam kimchi.
Greetings from the US. I recently moved to New York from another state in the US and realized I'd lost access to many things, including Milwaukee Pickles. Seriously, if you are in the Midwest of the US don't skip these they are a family favorite!
my go-to is kimchi sauce with cucumbers. In the US, pickle juice is sometimes a life saver on long rides if you get dehydrated. Some people swear by pickle juice for fighting muscle cramps when you're 80 miles into a 100 mile ride
Thank you! Very informative and I will try the recipes 😊
I've done "refrigerator pickles" with green beans and carrots from my garden, and they were really nice. Not sure where they fit within "pickle culture", I tried doing lacto pickle for hot sauce and idk if I did it right
Darn it! My mouth watered through this whole video. Now I need to ransacked my fridge and see what kinds of pickles are in there! Bread and Butter pickles have been my favorite snacking pickle for years but there are times that you just have to have a good sour dill pickle!
2 to 3% is usual salt/water brine ratio, by weight.
you can use a single leaf of grape or certain trees, to prevent mushy skin. dont cut ends off.
use a ph test kit and when 5.0 reached it's ready for long term storage in cool area, i.e. shut down fermentation..unless you like explosive jars
the 4% brine is kinda "handwavy", if you want to be precise - which is great for reproducibility and for troubleshooting if something goes wrong, not to mention dealing with different brine:vegetable ratios - use 2% salt by total weight (water + vegetable). you can go higher, though it's quite salty already, and maybe even go lower, but not by much, otherwise you might get unwanted results (salt inhibits/slows the bad microbes' growth).
also try to keep everything under the brine, don't let anything float on the top, otherwise you risk having mold - the risk goes away after a while, as the ferment releases CO2, it will sit on top of the ferment and protect it from oxygen (mold loves oxygen).
if you see mold, just throw the whole batch out and start over - your health is worth more than the few dollars spent on the ferment.
and "burp" the ferment (about daily should be fine, just open the lid slightly and let it hiss) or use an airlock, otherwise you risk turning the jar into a bomb, because the released gas will build up pressure
In Poland the very first one we add soir cream and we call it "mizeria" which translates to mizerry. Staple side dish to any dinner.
I ferment my own quail eggs and they amazing, I always try different herbs.
I honestly accidentally fermented them and the first few times I threw them away as I thought they were off but didn’t realise it was fine.
I remember watching a video about chinese pickling traditions or cuisine and just loving the fact that some households have like an urn or pot where they keep their brine and pickles (all sorts of vegetables), from which they eat the pieces they want and keep adding more vegetables everyday or on a regular basis (in a continuous fashion). I may remember all this wrong, but I like the idea.
Euell Gibbons wrote a famous book called 'Stalking the Wild Asparagus" back in the 1960's that had a whole chapter describing this process- it's very, very simple.
When I was a baby my family lived near a pickle factory and the whole area smelled like pickles. I have been a pickle fan all of my life!
Hi Andong, in countless guides to lacto-fermantion I've over and over heard the number of 2,5% salt solution. And it was always stressed that keeping it about that salinity is optimal for the bacteria you want and it shouldn't be much more or less. I've tried that myself and it works well.
Now you use 4% salinity which is quite a bit more. I guess you got this from somewhere, too, and tried it.
Have you tried ca. 2,5% as well? At which salinity do you get better results?
Fun fact: some people who struggle with period pain drink the pickle brine from their pickles to alleviate cramps. I tried it myself and it actually works for me too. The minerals in that solution make it a great cocktail for your muscles to relax.
Spreewälder cucumbers are the best! Ogurki are great too 😏
He has a whole video on the topic!
@@jhonjacson798 I know about it ;), I am alsow close to region
Малосольные! Вкус детства 😊 Недавно довелось попробовать малосольные в тыкве 🎃
Thanks!
Middle eastern pickles are my favourite. I have tried lebanese and iranian, both are with vinegar, salt och 0 sugar. The sweetness makes it weird. I guess that is something you want if you are doing a relish with the pickle, but as a stand alone snack, I want it to be just sour, garlicy, crisp and salty.
Kosher pickles probly gets its name from using the kosher salt, which is called kosher due to the salt being used the koshering process used for taking the blood out of meat
I'm sure you would love Italian giardiniera, gairdiniera alla piemontese, various vegetables in pickles form, not only cucumbers
I loved the "meh" reaction to the sweet pickles 😂😂😂
What about Senfgurken? I think they're the most interesting pickles in Germany 🤔
Dich zum ersten Mal gesehen. Hat Spaß gemacht
What kind of pickles would you recommend for burgers? I have to admit I'm a sucker for the pickles at fastfood places like Subway, Burger King or McDonalds. I haven't found the perfect fit for that here in Germany though.
Try plain white vinegar 'refrigerator' pickles. Make as few as you want- slice, add vinegar to cover, and let sit for at least 24 hours. You can also do this with the onions!
Learned something. I have to say I avoided the 'milky' pickles. They just looked 'off' to me. Now, I will have to give them a real go. Thanks for the informative video! My current favorites in Germany are Specht Gewürz Gurken and Specht Prager Gurken.
I only buy the lacto fermented. All others are just sweet.
9:10 es muss auch die spicy version sein. Sau lecker zum Abendbrot.
If you add a short vacuum step to the quick pickling process it is even quicker :D
Acetic acid (Vinegar) Is just as natural as Lactic acid. Both are the byproduct of bacterial digestion.
How do you the German style pickles? They're hands down the best. I've tried reproducing but nothing comes close to what I buy at the store
I like sweet pickles, actually, haha. When I make quick pickles, I always add some sugar to balance the sourness of the vinegar. I guess I just like sweet and sour foods.
More info on achar pickles please!
Lacto fermented is the only way to go with any foods especially pickles. Imagine middle eastern food with those pickles 😍 falafel with labne grilled chicken hummus garlic sauce and hot sauce with pita bread. That’s just one example.
Is it an introduction for pickle soup (you know, soup season)?
Half sour are my favorite place
sourdough bread + butter + pickles = delicious and nutritious snack!
Personally I love cornichon but cannot stand the other pickles variety I've tried, I think they were mainly the sweet and sour ones they use in burger places and stuff. It's a bit annoying cause in France they translate every kind of pickle as cornichon no matter the variety. Tho I think my dislike is a texture issue, like with onions so the small crunchyness of cornichon don't trigger it, I also just love sour food... maybe I could try the lacto fermented one one day.
I absolutely LOVE Cornichons.
Was ist mit Senfgurken?
I've only ever had those German spiced pickles.
guess the Gewürz from Gewürzgurken comes from spices instead of spicy :D
Babushkas lacto-fermented cucumbers will always be my favourite! Dill sticks, garlic, black currant leaves in the brine are awesome! And a touch of vodka on top! Малосольные вот не очень как-то, а солёные это бомба!
Все хороши
Bro, you need to try Polish kiszone
Lacto fermented pickles for the win! 🎉
Pickles are my jam!
Hmmmm. Pickle jam?
I relish the thought.
We make 'pickle relish' from the odd few cukes that hide each year until they are baguette size. They are run through the meat grinder on 'coarse' and left to drain in a colander, then we add sugar, mustard seed, pickle brine, and can in jars using boiling water.
It's Aaaaatcha!😂😂😂 Not A-chaaar... like sneezing 🤧 "achoo" but rather "atchaaa". You're welcome.
Hey Andong, you are going to have to come back to the pickle thingy here. You could do a whole video just about the american pickle. Also I was under the imporession that the cloudyness of the picklewater was do to the anti cakeing chemicals on the salt..that is why you have to use kosher salt to make kosher pickles. Can you clear that one up? then you should talk about the big american pickles that are being sold for 5 euros at the american candy stores. Those pickles taste great. What about the pickles that Mcdonalds uses? Lets talk about the german pickles!! Why don`t they make a pickle without the sugar. Sure those pickles are good but they are limited in use. It would be nice to have a pickle without the salt. I made my own this year. I bought the cucumbers in the russian mini max markt. They had just about everything and the price was ok too. I did like the tumeric tip for the american pickles...but there is way more in the jar those pickles are crunchy..ahhh pickles you need to revisit the whole pickle thing...I will be waiting
It's very common in Iran to put tarragon in pickles and it's so starnge to people to add sugar in any pickles.
Tarragon is a wonderful herb. It would be even better with some sweetness from sugar. :)
I left some of my lactobacillus fermented ones for months, tried one last week took the enamel off my teeth, no joke
From your example quick pickles is just normal cucumber with salad dressing
There is a very popular fast food chicken chain here in the United States that is known to brine their chicken in sour pickle brine. It is so popular that many Americans marinate chicken breast with it now, for flavour and to result in a juicy chicken breast. I highly recommend you try this, the result is absolutely delicious
In the US we got DA KIRBY CUCUMBERS. The best for pickling!
This is the opposite of what I do: Buy sour, make vinegar.
I've never had success with making fermented pickles, I suspect my climate is just too warm.
Another honorable mention is the Austrian Senfgurke!
India is the biggest exporter of Gheekins, however locally they are unavailable.
these lebanese pickles are my absolute favorites.
Bread and butter pickles are great as a sandwich with bread and butter. Any alternative theory will have to present a lot of evidence to overcome that.
French pickles are the best period. We only use small ones an there are really crunchy.
Yes, French 'everything' is the best. We know....🙄
@@floydblandston108 try small ones and we can talk.
I've never had a good pickle that comes in a glass jar. You have to pick them yourself and put in a bag from this shady huge ass barrel that's located in the supermarket.
Edit: Well, guess I found the issue. Scandinavian pickles... No sugar in my pickles, thank you. Too bad that's the only type you can buy here in Finland except for the ones that come in the gnarly barrel...
As a child in Alaska we only had access to big barrel pickles at the yearly harvest fair. They were yummy, agreed!
we want more fermentation content! :-)
Ich mag die Cronichons, irgendwie nicht so sehr wie die Klassischen Gewürzgurken oder auch die Russischen fermentierten von Oma
Pickle
I love doing my own cucumbers and Eggplant-pickles. Both vinegar-pickled. I got the recipe from my Grandma (Safta) from Israel. And I get your struggle with getting the right cucumber oder Eggplants over here in Germany. I usually get them from the turkish or lebanese markets around town, but with the cucumber "Snack-Gurken" are usually doing the trick as well (they are just quite expensive). I pickle them with lemon-vinegar, salt, chillies and Dill. The Eggplants are nearly the same I just replace the dill with beetroot for color.
Omg my country has this but we just call it chow. Anything fruit chow.
"Pickles are confusing."
Oh Andong, you never left your kitchen, have you ?
Great video! But to me it’s just a bunch of plastic crap that no one needs 😩
Kosher means kosher ingredients were used, not that they are fermented. Most "Kosher dill" pickles in America will be vinegar pickled.
Honorable (honorary? whatever...) shoutout to ARTE by the way, if you speak German their "Karambolage" intercultural explainer about pickles ("Gurken") is very funny and very well done. (th-cam.com/video/o4-gps_Pf2U/w-d-xo.html)
Fanboy? I don't know what you are talking about. 🙂
I just want to say that using Russian terminology for pickles is simply offensive to all nations that are much better in pickling and got invaded by Russians for recent 300 years.
have you seen the german teenage mutant ninja turtle picke commercial?