FERMENTATION IN BRINE PRODUCED BY DRY SALTING
This method, of course, can be used only for vegetables which contain enough water to make their own brine. String beans, if young and tender, may be preserved in this way. Remove tips and strings, and, if the pods are large, break them in two. Older beans, and doubtless other vegetables, could be preserved by this method if first shredded in the same manner as cabbage ([p. 10]). Use salt equal to 3 per cent of the weight of the vegetables (1 ounce salt to about 2 pounds vegetables).
SALTING WITHOUT FERMENTATION
Enough salt to prevent all bacterial action must be added. Wash and weigh the vegetables. Mix with them thoroughly one-fourth their weight of salt. If after the addition of pressure there is not enough brine to cover the product, add brine made by dissolving 1 pound of salt in 2 quarts of water. As soon as bubbling ceases, protect the surface by covering with paraffin. This method is especially well adapted to vegetables in which the sugar content is too low to produce a successful fermentation, such as chard, spinach, and dandelions. Corn can also be well preserved in this way. Husk it and remove the silk. Cook it in boiling water for 10 minutes, to set the milk. Then cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife, weigh it, and pack it in layers, with one-fourth its weight of fine salt.
The methods of preservation outlined are not limited to vegetables. Solid fruits, like clingstone peaches and Kieffer pears, can be preserved in an 80° brine for as long as six months. After the salt has been soaked out, they may be worked up into desirable products by the use of spices, vinegar, sugar, etc. Soft fruits, like Elberta peaches and Bartlett pears, are best preserved in weak vinegar (2 per cent acetic acid).[3]
[3] Report of an investigation in the Bureau of Chemistry on the utilization of brined products, by Rhea C. Scott, 1919.
CAUSES OF FAILURE
SOFT OR SLIPPERY PICKLES
A soft or slippery condition, one of the most common forms of spoilage in making pickles, is the result of bacterial action. It always occurs when pickles are exposed above the brine and very often when the brine is too weak to prevent the growth of spoilage organisms. To prevent it keep the pickles well below the brine and the brine at the proper strength. To keep pickles for more than a very few weeks a brine should contain 10 per cent of salt. Once pickles have become soft or slippery as a result of bacterial action no treatment will restore them to a normal condition.
HOLLOW PICKLES