[Sca-cooks] pickling

David Walddon david at vastrepast.com
Mon Jul 16 10:45:19 PDT 2012


OK I have no Viking urges at all (well maybe once or twice but that is a whole other story) and that site is SO COOL!
I had forgotten about the Viking Whey Barrels. 
For sure a pickling process that was done in wood. 

Eduardo 

On Jul 16, 2012, at 10:35 AM, Kimetha Loidolt wrote:

> Nordic cultures keep whey in large wooden vats [see website below] for pickling [lactic acid fermentation], not all pickling was done using a salt or vinegar brine.
> 
> http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/Turf_Houses.htm
> 
> Abbess Waldetrudis von Metten OL
> 
> 
> Kimetha Loidolt
> 
> kloidolt at hisadaamerica.com 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org [mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Susan Fox
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 1:31 PM
> To: Cooks within the SCA
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] pickling
> 
> 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.
>> 
> 
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