Small Batch Preserves: Pickles

Marvelous Pickles for only pennies a jar.  Make small batches of pickles in less than an hour.  Be sure to pickle your garden’s bounty or the  incredibly cheap bargains available in the Farmer’s Markets or grocery stores.

Small Batch Preserves: Pickles

Canning and Preserving Pickles

Here are some crazy pickle factoids from ilovepickles.org

• ” Pickling is one of the oldest forms of food preservation, discovered at the dawn of civilization, thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia.
• ” Americans consume more than 2.5 billion pounds of pickles each year – that’s 20 billion pickles!
• ” American households purchase pickles every 53 days.
• ” More than 67 percent of all households eat pickles.
• ” Americans consume more than 9 pounds of pickles per person annually.
• ” Dill pickles are the most popular type of pickle, followed by sweet.

Given the number of pounds of pickles that many families buy, preserving your own pickles can be economical, fun to make, as well as chemical and preservative free.

Just read the labels on some pickle brands and you will see what I mean. On the back on one dill pickle jar I found: calcium chloride, polysorbate 80, natural flavor, yellow 5, potassium metabisulfite. Calcium choride would be from a lime-water bath which makes the pickles crispier. But what the heck is “natural flavor” and is it actually natural or is that just the name of another chemical?

Depending on the availability of ingredients you may be able to create a batch of pickles for the cost of the vinegar (next to nothing). You can take advantage of your own garden, or goodies from friends and neighbors. You can also wait until fruits are in season and buy them at bargain prices.

One of the most wonderful aspects of small batch preserving is that you can do it year round. In today’s supermarkets and farmer’s markets you can almost always find veggies and fruit that is in season.

Here are a ten great reasons for making pickles yourself:

1. You can save money. Lots of money! You can often make your own preserves for next to nothing, or if you follow the frugal tips, you can make a batch of pickles for a few dollars.
2. You will know exactly what ingredients are the jar. No weird, unpronounceable or dangerous chemicals.
3. It is incredibly satisfying to turn a batch of mundane ingredients into a gourmet goodie that would cost $10 or more if purchased from a specialty store. Have you seen the price of pickled mushrooms or pickled plums?
4. It is FUN! Whip up a small batch while watching your favorite television serial. I few of my recipes can be done in less than an hour (not counting veggie soaking time).
5. You can make low-cost gifts that impress recipients with your skill, caring and daring-do! They will think you spent hours, no need to tell them it only took you 60 minutes.
6. You can create goodies that are NOT available commercially.
7. You can make some pickles year round.
8. You can become eco-friendly. Jars can be recycled dozens and dozens of times. AND you can rescue used jars from friends, neighbors and the recycling center.
9. You can spend quality time together with family and friends.
10. Teach your children to make preserves. Not only will you be teaching them a life-time skill but you will be spending quality time with them creating their favorites. Imagine them giving Grandma a jar of her favorite pickled grapes.

You will find a total of 41 Recipes:

• 6 Dill Pickle Recipes
• 28 Sweet Pickle Recipes
• 7 No Sugar and Low Sugar Veggie Recipes

About the Author

Chef Joe Bandler started cooking in his grandmother’s kitchen when he turned six. He was given his own big wooden spoon and the responsibility of stirring to make sure nothing was burning. He quickly convinced his grandmother that he was capable of taking on more kitchen and garden duties. To the horror of his mother, his Christmas gift that year was a knife.

Together with his Grandmother, Joe helped feed farm crews of up to ten hungry workers and “put up” hundreds of jars of jams, jellies, preserves and pickles.

At the age of seventeen he went to chef’s school and started apprenticing in kitchens across North America. He soon became interested in the “business” aspects of running kitchens and restaurants. He fully understands that even a successful restaurant can go bankrupt because the owners don’t understand the numbers! Today he acts as a business consultant to restaurant owners and cooks up a storm in his own kitchen!

Writing his own cookbooks have been on Joe’s bucket list for over a decade. Now he is making that dream come true.