Know Your Pickles?

With a nod to their humble beginnings, pickles are experiencing a rebirth in consumer interest. There are basically two kinds of pickles: those preserved with salt (fermented) and those preserved with vinegar (fresh packed). Each can be made with portions of the other ingredients; the duration of curing differentiates them. Pickling is one of the oldest forms of preservation. It is a custom of nearly every world culture, each using its own various spices and seasonings in its pickle brine.

Traditional Jewish- and Polish-style kosher dills, sour pickles and bread and butter pickles are still in high demand, but updated twists on traditional recipes are the latest news. Pickle makers are using dried cherries, ginger, candied orange, lemon, apples and cinnamon in their brine. Pickles are also getting hotter-soy-wasabi brines are popular, as are Cajun-style pickles and pickles mixed or brined with hot peppers. Pickling has moved beyond cucumbers to include a variety of vegetables-peppers (banana, cherry, sweet), carrots, cabbage, snap peas and asparagus.  

The Pickle Barrel

Fermented: Also called slow-processed pickles, salt is used to ferment the cucumber. Dry-salted pickles extract water from the vegetable to produce the brine; brined pickles are covered with salt dissolved in water. Salt controls the fermentation process; vinegar is usually added to the brine for flavor. Seasonings are put in during the final stages.

Fresh Packed: Also called quick process, this is one of the most common methods for commercial jarred pickles. Pickles are not fermented, but preserved with vinegar, or occasionally lemon or lime juice, and seasonings in jars. Salt is usually added to firm the texture and concentrate flavor. After bottling, pickles are pasteurized. Shelf-life is about 18 months. Most German-style pickles are fresh packed rather than fermented.

Refrigerated: The most common home-pickling process, it requires a combination of refrigeration and vinegar or alcohol to kill bacteria. This process, also known as acidification, has the shortest shelf-life. Acid changes the pickle's texture over time. They retain a bright color, and are crisp and crunchy.

Genuine Dill: Made by the slow-processed method with dill weed added to the tanks during the last stage of fermentation. The flavor is more concentrated and sour than other dill pickles.

Kosher Dill: Kosher refers to a flavor profile, in which garlic has been added to the brine at the end. (They are not necessarily produced according to kosher law.) Generally, these pickles have a more robust flavor than genuine dill pickles. Most Polish-style pickles are similarly garlicky.

Overnight Dill: Fresh cucumbers that sit in a brine in the refrigerator for a few days. Bright green and crunchy, they taste fresher and less acidic.

Sour and Half Sour: Cucumbers are placed in a salt, non-vinegar brine; the amount of salt added controls fermentation. Longer fermentation yields pickles that are more sour; less salt allows quicker fermentation and pickles that are half sour.

Cornichons: European cucumbers also called gherkins; generally harvested at one to two inches long. The French often pickle cornichons in red wine vinegar; common additives include garlic, cloves and thyme. Traditionally, cornichons accompany pâté.

Sweet: Packed in a sweet mixture of vinegar, sugar and spices. Variations include:

Bread and Butter: Thinly sliced pickles made from cucumbers, onions and chopped green or red peppers. They have a sweet, slightly tangy taste.

Candied: Pickles packed in a syrupy, sweet brine.

Gherkins: Miniature sweet or dill pickles.

No-Salt Sweet: A relatively new type of sweet pickle to which no salt has been added.

Sweet/Hot: Made by adding hot spices and seasonings for a piquant flavor.

Pickles of the World

Asia is the top pickle-consuming continent. In Korea especially, pickles, or kimchi, has been the national dish for centuries. It is most often made with cabbage, but can also consist of cucumber or daikon. In Japan, cabbage, daikon, carrots or turnips are pickled in salt, sake, malt or mustard. The oldest known pickle variety is misozuke, or miso pickles, made by imbedding vegetables in miso paste. Meanwhile, a typical recipe in China's Szechuan style has a spicy brine of salt, peppercorns, dried chile peppers, water, ginger and gin. In northeast China, vegetables are pickled in rice wine.

Pickles are an integral part of Russia's zakuski, or pre-dinner appetizers served with iced cold vodka.

Traditional throughout the Middle East, some of the region's most distinct pickle recipes hail from Lebanon where mackdous, or pickled eggplant with walnuts and garlic is standard. Turnips pickled with beetroots, dates and garlic in a vinegar brine is also popular.

In India, hot or sweet mango pickles and lime pickles are part of the national cuisine. Souring agents used in south India are tamarind, curd or lime juice, with curry leaves and mustard seed as opposed to vinegar in the north, which also uses cumin seeds or fennel for seasoning.

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