Guest guest Posted March 1, 2004 Report Share Posted March 1, 2004 >Tell me it's not problem that my cucumbers float to the top of the >mason jar while they pickle, not 100% submerged. Also, most >pickle/sauerkaraut recipes I've seen call for open vessel, conents >weighted down under brine, but Nourishing Traditions calls for >pickling in sealed jars. Any info on why that's not significant, tell >me. > >-Broken Record Well, when my new " Dunkers " weights are available they will hold your cukes under the brine when you screw on the top (thanks to Pugh, for the great name, she will be receiving a complementary set!). I checked out the pottery place last night and it looks like we can do it quite easily and they will be a reasonable price. This will be a good solution I've been needing for a long time ... They will be a flat disk with a little handle sticking up, so when the lid goes on the vegies get submerged. Otherwise you can use a plastic bag with water in it, which works. Or a rock if you know which ones don't leach (I don't know which ones are safe, which is why I don't use them). -- Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 1, 2004 Report Share Posted March 1, 2004 @@@@@@@ > Otherwise you can use a plastic bag with water in it, which works. > Or a rock if you know which ones don't leach (I don't > know which ones are safe, which is why I don't use them). > > -- Heidi Jean @@@@@@@ I was all worried about the dunking issue before I started my kimjang this past fall, and I actually surfed for pottery sites thinking I might get scraps or something. I randomly called some artisanal potter and asked him about it, and the rock idea came up. He said something about the rocks in my area being safe, but I can't remember the logic; my take-away lesson was that I could pick any rock off the ground and it wouldn't have lead. I think it was some kind of regional thing. I don't know of any issues besides lead, and I sort have a carefree attitude about these things nowadays anyway. I actually wound up buying a few bags of smooth river rocks from a landscape place because they were perfect and dirt-cheap [of course y'all can imagine my conversation with the blokes at the landscape shop, since I'm the type that always asks a lot of questions], but the great irony is that I never used them at all or bothered to do any dunking measures because I was lazy and all my jars seemed to be doing okay, so I just left them and I haven't seen any signs of mold or problems in any batches. I used a variety of ingredients and methods for different batches, so some have more " juice " than others. On the other hand, I've had some failed batches of pure kale pickles though because I didn't tend to the dunking issue and they got too moldy. I'm still such a total amateur and this was my first kimjang, so I can't really draw any conclusions or offer any expert advice. I promise to be able to in a few years though! Mike SE Pennsylvania Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 >I was all worried about the dunking issue before I started my kimjang >this past fall, and I actually surfed for pottery sites thinking I >might get scraps or something. I randomly called some artisanal >potter and asked him about it, and the rock idea came up. He said >something about the rocks in my area being safe, but I can't remember >the logic; my take-away lesson was that I could pick any rock off the >ground and it wouldn't have lead. Actually I don't think most rocks have lead ... lead melts at a pretty low temp. I have seen lead ore and it looks like metal. However, when I used some of my local rocks, there was IRON in them, which wouldn't hurt you, of course, but it turned the brine somewhat orange and cloudy (some of the calcium may have dissolved too). Anyway, the outside of the rock started to dissolve. The instructions say to use " non-calciferous rocks " -- so if you can have a geologist point you to those, you should be safe. Or just get ones that don't dissolve. I do think a big block of quartz should be good (and pretty -- but watch out for veins of metal which are in some quartz samples). the great irony is that I never used them at all or bothered to do >any dunking measures because I was lazy and all my jars seemed to be >doing okay, so I just left them and I haven't seen any signs of mold >or problems in any batches. A lot of the Korean recipes do NOT dunk their kimchi. In one recipe you roll up the ingredients in salted cabbage leaves, then stack the little rolls in the kimchi jar. And even for traditional kimchi, they just layer salted cabbage leaves on top. They do use rocks sometimes though too. Anyway, I've not had any go bad if they had salted cabbage leaves on top (I salt the leaves and let them set til they are wilty, rinse them, and use them). Other ingredients haven't been so forgiving. -- Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 > A lot of the Korean recipes do NOT dunk their kimchi. In one recipe > you roll up the ingredients in salted cabbage leaves, then stack the > little rolls in the kimchi jar. And even for traditional kimchi, they > just layer salted cabbage leaves on top. They do use rocks sometimes > though too. Anyway, I've not had any go bad if they had salted > cabbage leaves on top (I salt the leaves and let them set til they > are wilty, rinse them, and use them). Other ingredients haven't > been so forgiving. I've never had any fermented veg that had nappa cabbage in it go bad dunked or no. European cabbage, very much so; I've found I have to keep it submerged. Lynn S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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