Hey all,
I'm curious, I keep seeing recipes for making pickles call for simply boiling a solution and pouring them over the cucumbers, sealing and waiting a week to reopen. Is this preserving them? Will they have a long shelf life or is there some other step I need to do?
I know you can't pressure seal them (at least, I don't think you can).
As you can tell, I'm new at this so be easy on me.
Thanks!
No,that way wouldn't preserve them for a long self life.You do boil a solution and pour it over the cucumbers in a jar especially made for canning (Mason and Ball just to name a couple).With a wet cloth wipe around the edges of the jar lip (forgot what it's actually called right now).Then you put on the lid and ring tightly.Look eye-level with the jars and the middle of the lids to see if it's raised or straight.What I then do is put them in a large pot.Fill the pot with water that goes over the tops of the jars and boil it for 10 minutes with a lid on.Once you take the jars out of the pot after the ten minutes let them cool.You should hear a pop sound and that means that the jar has sealed,the sound can be very loud (scared me half to death when I was in a nearby room) or it could be very quiet.This can take as little as one second to a few hours after taking them out,they can even seal while in the pot.If you don't hear a popping sound then again,look eye-level with the jars to see if the lid has sunken in,if so it sealed!If you think it might not have sealed,then just put it in the fridge once it cooled down (they should seal most of the time).Sealed jars should last well over a year in the pantry,in fact they taste better the longer they sit without being opened!
Here's a website that I found that also explains the canning process.Although you don't have to buy a huge canner,it does help if you can a lot though or ave large batches.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/pickles/canning.html
Here's a website that I found that also explains the canning process.Although you don't have to buy a huge canner,it does help if you can a lot though or ave large batches.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/pickles/canning.html
- hendi_alex
- Super Green Thumb
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Your instructions are a little vague, but it sounds to me like you may have read a refrigerator pickle recipe. Those kinds of pickles have to be kept refrigerated but will last for several weeks. On the other hand, pickles that are brought up to the proper temperature like in a canner, can be kept for a year or longer when stored in the pantry, as long as conditions are reasonable.