Pickle Recipes - Wine Kraut

8 Pounds Trimmed Head Cabbage (white)
5 Tablespoons Pickling Salt
3 Teaspons Caraway Seeds
3/4 Cup dry white wine

Quarter and core the cabbage then shred it very thin. You can use a cabbage shredder if you have one or a good old knife. Mix the salt, caraway seeds and cabbage. Make sure the cabbage is well covered with the salt and everything is thoroughly mixed. Put this mixture into a crock and weight it down with a food grade plastic bag filled with brine.

Brine: 1 1/2 tablespoons salt per quart of water

You can also cover the cabbage with a plate and top the plate with clean weights (like washed rocks or bricks).

After 24 hours remove the weights and add the wine to the mixture. Replce the weights. The saurkraut will ferment for at least 2 weeks. Each day you should check to see if any scum has formed and if it has remove it and wash the plates and weights. After two weeks start tasting it. When the sauerkraut is ready it will be pale gold and have a flavor that you like. Fermentation can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks depending on the temperature. The colder it is the longer it will take.

This recipe is safe to can if you are into canning. The sauerkraut should be processed in a hot water bath for 20 minutes for pints or 25 minutes for quarts.

Pickle Recipes - Summer Pickles

This is a tasty half-sour that is quick and easy to make. This pickle is fermented in the sun, rather than in the dark. If you expect temperatures to rise above 80 degrees you will want to move them to a cooler place.

1 Quart of pickling cucumbers (3 to 5 inch cukes work best)
1 tablespoon of pickling salt
2 tablespoons white or red wine vinegar (substitute apple cider vinegar if you have to)
1 fread head and 1 frond of dill
2 cups of water

Clean your cucumbers. Use a knife to slit the cucumbers through lengthwise but leave the ends intact. This will help keep them from floating. Some people prefer to skewer them instead. Put the salt, vinegar and dill into a narrow-mouth quart jar. Add the cucumbers to the jar so they won't float. Leave 1 inch of headspace. Cover the cucumbers with water (or brine). Cap the jar loosly with a non-reactive lid. Place the jar outdoors in the sun or in a sunny window. You can put the jar in a dish if you are concerned about seeping brine. Bring the jar inside at night (especially if you live at high altitude where it gets very cold at night even in summer). In about 3 days you should see bubbles rising in the jar. The pickles will be ready in about 5 days, when the bubbles stop rising.

Chill them and enjoy a satisfying summer treat! Keep them refrigerated and they will keep for a few weeks. Enjoy!

Pickle Recipes - Curtido

1 1/2 pounds shredded cabbage
1 small red onion, sliced thin
1 medium carrot, slivered
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon pickling salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup pineapple juice

Toss the cabbage, onion, carrot, garlic, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the vinegar and pineapple juice.

Pack the mixture into a jar and cover tightly. Refrigerate for 12 hours, stirring occasionally.

Pickle Recipes - Pickled Carrots

1/2 pound carrots, slivered
2 teaspoons pickling salt
1 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 or 2 chile peppers (or more if you like)

Toss the carrots with the salt. Let stand for 1 hour.
Put the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let the liquid cool.
Drain the carrots. Pour the pickling liquid over them and toss them. Let them stand for 1 more hour.
Cool and serve.

Pickle Recipes - Lunch Spears

1 1/4 Pounds 3" cucumbers cut into spears
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons pickling salt
1 quart plus 3/4 cups water
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 small onion, peeled
1 dill head
2 grape leaves
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pickling spice

Put the spears into a bowl or crock. Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 1 quart of water and pour it over the cucumbers. Weight the crock with a heavy plate. Let stand for 8 to 12 hours.
Drain and rinse the cucumbers and drain them again.
Pack the cucumbers, garlic, onion and dill head into a 1 quart jar. Add the grape leaves.
In a non-reactive pan boil the 3/4 cup of water, 2 teaspoons salt, vinegar, sugar and spices. Pour the hot liquid over the cucumbers. Cap the jar tightly.
Store the jar in the refrigerator for 1 week before eating.

Pickle Recipes - Dill Pickles with Mustard

4 Pounds cucumbers
1 Large Onion
1/2 cup chopped horseradish
1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
4 to 6 dill heads
6 tablespoons pickling salt
2 quarts water

Put the cucumbers, onion, horseradish, mustard seeds and dill in layers in a jar or jars. Dissolve the salt in the water adn pour enough brine over the cucumbers to cover them. Weight the jar with a freezer bag filled with brine.

You'll see bubbles form within 3 days in the jar. If scum forms in the jar skim it off and rinse your freezer bag.

The pickles will be ready in 2 weeks when the bubbling has stopped.

Refrigerate and eat.