How to preserve live cucumber pickles?

[jawnn]

the first question is: How long can cucumber pickle stay in the fermenting jars? Sauerkraut can stay in there for a whole winter and summer.

I'v been looking at a lot of videos on youtube to find out if it is possible to can my pickles after before they rot. I spent too much money on the baby cukes to through them out. I lost a couple due to not having enough salt in them, so there maybe a limit to how long they can ferment.

Many years ago I canned sauerkraut, but that does not need to be canned. I keep my sauerkraut in the fermenting jars all summer with no problem. And I use only 3% brine [2tbsp salt per U.S. quart of water, or is that 4%?] I thought I knew hot calculate percentages, but maybe not.

And I don't even use that much salt for my KimChi. Although it is impossible to measure the salt that is in the Dulse seaweed I use. The hot pepper is a better preservative.

Maybe I should use hot pepper in the pickle brine? Well I am using black tea for the Tannin which I believe is just to raise the acidity level. Maybe I should try powdered Vitamin C ??? Not being a traditional preservative I don't know how much to use. But the food industry should know.

 

[GotGarlic]

There is a whole lot going on in this post [emoji38] It's a little hard to follow.

Your bottom-line question is about fermented pickled cucumbers, right? I don't know for sure, but I imagine the microorganisms and acids would eventually break down the cucumber flesh until it was mush. Cucumbers are mostly water, with very little fiber. The fiber in cabbage is what makes it more robust, as a vegetable and as a pickle, than cucumbers. I don't think canning fermented cucumber pickles would be a good idea.

About the tea, that is not acidic enough to act as a preservative.

Vitamin C is not a preservative. You're probably thinking of citric acid. They're not the same thing.

I only use tested, approved canning recipes from reliable sources, so I can't help beyond this.

 

[jawnn]

The main thing I wanted to know is why do people take their pickles out so soon?

I pickles plums last year and they lasted all winter. the brine takes a while to soak all the way in. and I believe that is what cucumbers should be like also. so maybe the reason a couple got mushy was too much pressure, or not enough salt.

my baby cukes are in brine of 3% salt and the plums were about 12% salt.
my math is not good so I found this calculator https://percentagecalculator.net

I saw a video of some novice fermentor that took his sauerkraut out after only a week or so. Boy that is nuts. I keep mine in the brine all summer. and it did get hot in my house a few times.

and I have canned sauerkraut, but it was mostly dead. I think the store bought live kraut has been kept cold.

 

[jawnn]

today I was looking through the forum listing and could see this clasification: Canning and Preserving - Discuss Cooking - Cooking Forums [canning and fermenting under farm to table] so if you want to move this ove there......

This maybe part of my problem: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f94/fermented-pickle-question-101988.html

 

[taxlady]

As I understand it, tannin is used in cucumber pickling to keep the cucumbers crunchy. I also read that you can get it by adding bay leaf to the jar when you are pickling the cucumbers.

 

[jawnn]

Tannic acid is a particular type of hydrolyzable tannin commonly found in the bark and wood of oaks and other plants. Tannins are very important to fermenting [red wine for instance because the reddish purple has tannins]. They provide color, flavor and structure to a fermented vegetable as well as acting as a preservative.

Often, wines with heavy tannins are meant to be aged or “cellared” for some time. As the wine is cellared, the tannins tend to mellow out while enhancing the wine’s body and flavor.

Oak, Grape or Black-Berry leaves and Black tea also have a high tannin content [but you may need to brew up a large pot of “strong” tea]. Red cabbage must have a certain amount of tannin as the red skins of grapes.

The effect of tannins in your red wine is the astringent or drying effect. When a ferment has too little sugar and too much acidity, it is often unpleasantly tart and sour tasting. You could fine tune your sauerkraut recipe to be a rather delectable one, like wine. As the color mellows to purple then bluish tones, the acidity mellows with it.

Do not use Vitamin C powder in the ferment, it will not create the correct environment for healthy bacteria.

 

[jawnn]

The answer to my original question:
Someone in a video mentioned that pickles can get soft at different rates; that being a reason to stop the fermentation. I think that is due to lack of acidity. [Like the water being used for brine should not have a high Ph]. And if so use more tannin leaves. Foods with a pH below 4.7 are very bacteria resistant.

 

[CharlieD]

To the original poster: were you actually asking a question or giving a lecture?
But to ask some of the questions popped up, pickles can stay canned for at least couple of years, speaking from experience. Even simple refrigerator pickles, not canned, are good for a year. Some of the reasons people take them out so early is to eat them, the original purpose of canning the pickles to begin with.