[Sca-cooks] pickling

[Susan Fox]

Tannins are desirable in pickling. Keeps the pickles crisp, that's why 
we put grape leaves in, right?

Selene Colfox

On 7/16/2012 10:26 AM, Terry Decker wrote:
> You've never seen a wooden pickle vat?  Wood used to be the material 
> of choice for commercial pickling.  It might leech tannins in the 
> beginning, but the pickling brine tended to seal the wood.  I don't 
> remember whether they were waxed or not, probably not, but they 
> certainly weren't scorched like whiskey kegs.  Stoneware was for home 
> pickling.
>
> The use of barrels and vats for commercial pickling seems to have died 
> out in the '60s and '70s when cheaper and cleaner plastic barrels 
> became available.
>
> There are some references to pickled vegetables being carried on board 
> ship in barrels in period.  And they were still in use in the Modern 
> Era, as in 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over 
> Niagra Falls in a barrel, a padded pickle barrel five feet tall and 
> three feet in diameter.
>
> Bear
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aruvqan" <aruvqan at gmail.com>
>
>> I could not imagine any benefit to scorched barrels. Actually I can 
>> not imagine pickling in anything other than ceramics, to be perfectly 
>> honest. You do not actually want your pickles to age in the same 
>> manner as booze, with a drastic flavor change. Crockery is neutral.
>>
>> If the pickles were in wood, I would imagine the barrel to be waxed 
>> though I wonder how long the layer of wax would resist the acid of 
>> the pickle.
>