[Sca-cooks] pickling
Susan Fox
selene at earthlink.net
Mon Jul 16 10:30:45 PDT 2012
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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