[Sca-cooks] Lots of pickles

[A F Murphy]

OK, I have to find it. This was in one of my grandmother's books, and
there were two pickle recipes. (Well, others too, but I'm talking about
these. ) One was for Winter Pickles, where you put cucumbers, vinegar
and dill in a jar, sealed it, packed it away in a cool place, and ate
them all winter. The other, for Summer Pickles, you put the cukes with
brine in a crock in a warm place, covered it loosely, checked it daily
to skim off any foam, then, after a week or so, added vinegar, and dill
and/or other seasonings. This produced what I think of as a Real Sour
Pickle, to my delight! The kind I got from the deli across the street
when I was growing up. The kind I could never get out of NY... I crossed
the river, and they only bothered with Half Sours, which just don't make
it, for me. And this is different from what you get in jars. Though you
can make this kind and then can them. But then I don't think they are as
crisp and fresh tasting.

I have absolutely no idea if it is period. My oldest book is only about
1895...  and I don't think that's the one with this.

I'll look for it, and post more exactly.

Anne

Mark.S Harris wrote:

>Adamantius replied to me with:
>
>>Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>> >Anne said:
>> >>  And last summer I made "summer pickles" i.e. fermented
>> >>  pickles, in a crock, for the first time. Very good!
>> >
>> >We've talked about fermented food previously, but I think dairy
>> >stuff and sauerkraut, fish and such. I don't remember anyone
>> >mentioning fermented cucumbers before. More details, please. And
>> >does anyone know if these would be period?
>>
>> There are a fair number of 17th-century cucumber pickle recipes, I
>> believe. It seems reasonably likely they would have been done prior
>> to that. And then there's the German recipe in (I think) Ein Buoch
>> Von Guter Spise that uses something very much like the
>> wine/vinegar/honey/mustard pickle found in the 14th century English
>> compost recipes, as, effectively, a salad dressing/pickle for
>> cucumbers or, I think, beets. At least I think it mentions
>> cucumbers...
>>
>
>But my question was about Anne's *fermented* pickles. The foods
>and recipes you are mentioning sound like just regular pickling
>and the same as those recipes I mentioned as already being in
>several of the Florilegium files.
>
>Stefan li Rous
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