My main farming items this year will be hot sauce, like last year, and...pickles! My primary pickling quest is baby kosher dills! Not garlic dills necessarily, kosher dills! Regardless of the type of pickles I end up doing, March is only a couple of days away so it's time for Fermentation Spring Training.
I need to master getting the pickles crispy and flavored just the way I like them. I'm actually going for a Vassic Kosher Dill flavor, my favorite, and over the winter I've tried them all.
I'm starting the training with cauliflower, brussel sprouts and carrots. The jars are labeled 1, 2 and 3 (pictured left to right). All 3 contain a tea bag at bottom, and 2-to-3 bay leaves, both for the tannins. All have mixed peppercorns. All have sliced onion with a combination of cauliflower, baby carrots and brussel sprouts.
The differences:
I need to master getting the pickles crispy and flavored just the way I like them. I'm actually going for a Vassic Kosher Dill flavor, my favorite, and over the winter I've tried them all.
I'm starting the training with cauliflower, brussel sprouts and carrots. The jars are labeled 1, 2 and 3 (pictured left to right). All 3 contain a tea bag at bottom, and 2-to-3 bay leaves, both for the tannins. All have mixed peppercorns. All have sliced onion with a combination of cauliflower, baby carrots and brussel sprouts.
The differences:
- Hot pickling spices, a leftover dried thai pepper from last year. Dill seed instead of the initial dill weed at bottom of jar.
- Same as #3: sweet pickling spices instead of hot. No garlic.
- Four cloves of garlic, but otherwise the same as #2.
The fermentation process should start becoming evident in 3 or 4 days. We'll start testing for flavor after a minimum of a week's time.
An additional test for Fermentation Spring Training is to Pressure Can a couple of the jars so that they can be stored indefinitely, rather than for a few months in the refrigerator. No refrigerator!
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