Bit of a problem with mustard pickles

[summerf]

Hi, I need some advice regarding mustard pickles. Last Fall I made some mustard pickles with a recipe from a friend. It called for regular table salt instead of pickling/coarse salt. What puzzled me was that my friend told me to cover all the ingredients with the salt, cover and let stand over night but then in the morning drain but do not rinse. She said if I did that there would be no salt to the taste. I want to know if I should just go ahead and rinse the salt after draining anyway and if I switched to pickling salt should I use the same amount I use for the regular salt in the recipe. they were very good but I found that the color faded after a while and also they tasted a bit salty to me.
P.S. I think the color faded because I used regular table salt.

Also, when you use pickling salt do you rinse with water after draining.

I hope this is not too confusing and I would appreciate any help.
Thanks.
Summer

 

[mcnerd]

Definitely rinse and definitely use pickling/canning salt. Table salt has other ingredients and impurities in it that will only cloud and discolor the contents. In an emergency you could grind up some Kosher Salt to a fine texture but actual canning salt is preferred.

Vegetables need to have excess water drained from them, otherwise it comes out in the processing and makes for a soggier food. The salt process is done either dry or in a salt water bath depending on the recipe and vegetables and is left on for a minimum of one hour up to overnight. The vegetables are then drained and rinsed of the salt residue.

Hopefully your friend's recipe also included processing in a Boiling Water Canner or you might have another problem on your hands.