Pickling, canning, curing, what's the difference?

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Siegal

Sous Chef
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
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I am trying to figure this out. I don't think I want to can (cook) foods but rather want to make my own pickled cucumbers and other veggies and lemons. Also wanted to pickle/cure a tongue. Can anyone explain what I need to do to pickle things (like do I still need to buy special jars and boil??? Won't that cook my pickles). And what exactly is curing??? I just want a decent Jewish deli tongue sandwich made myself or some pickled herring. Thanks in advance
 
Curing involves partial dehydration of a met using salt and or sugar. It's a preserving process.

Pickling involves use of salt water or vinegar to pickle foods.

Canning is a food preservation process involving heat and sometimes pressure to cook and preserve foods.

You should have no problem finding a recipe for preparing tongue.
 
Because the whole subject of preserving foods involves different techniques and presents some opportunities for doing harm, sometimes great harm, I suggest beginning with a broad coverage of the subject and later studying more deeply those areas that sound attractive.

A very useful book is Putting Food By. It covers every common method of preserving foods and covers each topic in sufficient depth that you are equipped to try it. It can be had very cheaply through Half.com.

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Half.com: Putting Food by by Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan and Janet C. Greene (1992, Paperback, Revised)(9780452268999): Ruth Hertzberg: Books

Several copies under $5 delivered.
 
To me the main difference has to to with long term preservation. In other words, I consider truly canned items to have a much longer shelf life, and a lot of pickles need to be refrigerated. Mine do.
 
I take part in a weekly bass fishing tournament but I love canning so I stay home and can instead. When I do canning I do extreme canning. My fiance left me because my cans of beet root took priority. I lost my virginity to a canner once. I'd advise being careful with canning before it gets the best of you and ruins your life. Thanks for listening.
 
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