Bought 5+ pounds of pickling cucumbers and onions yesterday, got out the
spices to make sure I had everything for bread-and-butter pickles.
Rinsed the Benriner mandoline and started slicing. Began layering in
the bowl and discovered NO PICKLING SALT, NO KOSHER SALT. Dang. I've
had both of those in the cupboard for over 40 years, can't believe I
used them up and didn't replace. Refuse to use iodized salt but hey,
here's some Maldon Sea Salt! Bingo!

Question: did I make the right choice or should I have gotten dressed
and run to the store for the Right Salt? (It's too late now, by the way.)

gloria p
feeling stoopid

On 8/14/2015 11:52 AM, gloria p wrote:
>
>
> Bought 5+ pounds of pickling cucumbers and onions yesterday, got out the
> spices to make sure I had everything for bread-and-butter pickles.
> Rinsed the Benriner mandoline and started slicing. Began layering in
> the bowl and discovered NO PICKLING SALT, NO KOSHER SALT. Dang. I've
> had both of those in the cupboard for over 40 years, can't believe I
> used them up and didn't replace. Refuse to use iodized salt but hey,
> here's some Maldon Sea Salt! Bingo!
>
> Question: did I make the right choice or should I have gotten dressed
> and run to the store for the Right Salt? (It's too late now, by the way.)
>
> gloria p
> feeling stoopid
Sea salt generally has iodine in it. Pickling salt is always best. We
use an over the counter non-iodized salt in the kitchen but still keep a
big box of pickling salt handy.

If there was iodine in the salt you used you will have cloudy pickles if
I remember correctly. Everyone messes up at least once, if you did think
of it as a reminder to do it right the next time. If it doesn't mess it
up you can feel better. <G>

Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
children say.

On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
>
> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
> children say.

George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen.. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.) For some stuff you're canning, the darned single-use, disposable lid is worth more than what you're putting in the jar.

You know how the canning rings and lids now come right on the jars for several years? And they used to be on quite tightly and many people suspected that ruined the rubber gasket on the lid? Well I've noticed that the shipments of new jars (the buck extra boxes) hitting the stores have the canning rings placed very loosely now on the jars. Maybe the buck extra is for someone in the factory down in Muncie, Indiana to go around and loosen the canning rings a bit. Ha!

On 8/15/2015 12:49 PM, Randal Oulton wrote:
> On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
>>
>> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>> children say.
>
> George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.) For some stuff you're canning, the darned single-use, disposable lid is worth more than what you're putting in the jar.
Regular pints are running about US$11.00 per case of one dozen with lids
and rings retail. Quarts about twice that or a little more. Later in the
year they will be cut at places like Kroger to about $7.00. At Big Lots
the off brands are often a buck cheaper per dozen. Used to be that the
Classico spaghetti sauce 26 ounce jars could be gotten for free from
neighbors and friends who ate the nasty stuff and they were made to take
Ball rings. I have a few dozen of those I use for jellies, jams, etc.
and they must be at least ten or fifteen years old. Some of our jars are
close to fifty years old and still going strong.

> You know how the canning rings and lids now come right on the jars for several years? And they used to be on quite tightly and many people suspected that ruined the rubber gasket on the lid? Well I've noticed that the shipments of new jars (the buck extra boxes) hitting the stores have the canning rings placed very loosely now on the jars. Maybe the buck extra is for someone in the factory down in Muncie, Indiana to go around and loosen the canning rings a bit. Ha!
>
I noticed that too, never bothered me much as I toss lids after opening
a jar. About six or seven years ago I bought 345 regular lids from
Leman's, https://www.lehmans.com/p-2831-bulk-...dome-lids.aspx,
still have about 200 of them in a sealed container. I don't throw rings
away until they get rusty and that's seldom found. Two large plastic
containers of regular and large rings in the pantry. I just buy large
lids when I need them as we don't use man wide mouth jars except for
whole fruits etc.

We both started canning with our parents at a very young age so I've
probably been canning food since I was six or seven, excepting years in
the military and more years working overseas in the oil patch. Still
using a Sears pressure canner we bought in 1963, keep it clean, put new
seals and gauges on it about every three or four years, still going
strong. We make more jams and jellies than pressure canning beans, etc.
This year we've put up about 18 pints of green beans, and nearly that
many in crowder peas.

I will be emptying the jars hitting the three year mark pretty soon. The
grands and great grands have all slowed down on eating jellies, jams,
and pickles so will most likely just make fewer jars now they're growing
up. The two of us just can't eat that much anymore. Next month I will be
75, father, grandfather, great grandfather all died much younger than
that. Thank goodness for modern medicine, the Shirley curse of strokes
and heart attacks is slowing up.

On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 10:49:26 -0700 (PDT), Randal Oulton
> wrote:

>On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
>>
>> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>> children say.
>
>George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.)

Are you talking about the standard 70mm lids?
If so, head over to your local Dollarama. Their price has gone up
twice in the last two years but, as of a few days ago, Bernardin
standard 70mm lids are still only CND $1.50/doz.
We used a box and a half yesterday on 3 batches of spiced pear jam
(six - 250ml jars per batch).

Ross.
Southern Ontario, Canada

On 8/20/2015 10:29 AM, Ross@home wrote:
> On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 10:49:26 -0700 (PDT), Randal Oulton
> > wrote:
>
>> On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
>>>
>>> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>>> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>>> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>>> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>>> children say.
>>
>> George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.)
>
> Are you talking about the standard 70mm lids?
> If so, head over to your local Dollarama. Their price has gone up
> twice in the last two years but, as of a few days ago, Bernardin
> standard 70mm lids are still only CND $1.50/doz.
> We used a box and a half yesterday on 3 batches of spiced pear jam
> (six - 250ml jars per batch).
>
> Ross.
> Southern Ontario, Canada
>
Hey, Ross, long time no see. How's things in the mostly frozen north? We
got over an inch of rain yesterday and today so far and it is greatly
welcome. After getting over eighteen inches of rain back in early
spring, causing several deaths and lots of damage, we have been in a
small drought until yesterday.

Spring garden is mostly dead, have some pitiful looking eggplant,
tomatoes, and peppers still going but everything else has croaked.

I'm working on a design for a drip system to be used on the raised beds
and the fence line beds but it will be built after cooler weather gets
to us. !@#$ soaker hoses from the big box stores only last a few months
so I'm getting rid of those.

We put up about eighteen pints of green beans in early spring and have
frozen over a dozen bags of chopped sweet chiles and many bags of ready
to cook zuke and eggplant fritters so the garden wasn't a total loss
this year.

We're looking at a fall garden later this month or early September but
not sure what we want to plant now, got plenty of seeds and can get nice
fall plants close by so it won't be long. Have to amend the raised beds
every time the seasons change so that chore is coming on too.

George, NW Harris Cty, Texas

On Thu, 20 Aug 2015 13:43:52 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>On 8/20/2015 10:29 AM, Ross@home wrote:
>> On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 10:49:26 -0700 (PDT), Randal Oulton
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>>>> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>>>> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>>>> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>>>> children say.
>>>
>>> George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.)
>>
>> Are you talking about the standard 70mm lids?
>> If so, head over to your local Dollarama. Their price has gone up
>> twice in the last two years but, as of a few days ago, Bernardin
>> standard 70mm lids are still only CND $1.50/doz.
>> We used a box and a half yesterday on 3 batches of spiced pear jam
>> (six - 250ml jars per batch).
>>
>> Ross.
>> Southern Ontario, Canada
>>
>Hey, Ross, long time no see. How's things in the mostly frozen north? We
>got over an inch of rain yesterday and today so far and it is greatly
>welcome. After getting over eighteen inches of rain back in early
>spring, causing several deaths and lots of damage, we have been in a
>small drought until yesterday.
>
>Spring garden is mostly dead, have some pitiful looking eggplant,
>tomatoes, and peppers still going but everything else has croaked.
>
>I'm working on a design for a drip system to be used on the raised beds
>and the fence line beds but it will be built after cooler weather gets
>to us. !@#$ soaker hoses from the big box stores only last a few months
>so I'm getting rid of those.
>
>We put up about eighteen pints of green beans in early spring and have
>frozen over a dozen bags of chopped sweet chiles and many bags of ready
>to cook zuke and eggplant fritters so the garden wasn't a total loss
>this year.
>
>We're looking at a fall garden later this month or early September but
>not sure what we want to plant now, got plenty of seeds and can get nice
>fall plants close by so it won't be long. Have to amend the raised beds
>every time the seasons change so that chore is coming on too.
>
>George, NW Harris Cty, Texas

Hi George,

Glad to hear you got some needed rain. Wish we could say the same.
We watch it go north of us and south of us but not much arrives here.
It's about a 15 km drive from our little farm to the city of Cambridge
where we do most of our "in town" stuff. We were in a few days ago and
encountered a couple of torrential downpours when the windshield
wipers on high could hardly keep up and the storm drains were backing
up. We thought we'd at least get some needed moisture but, when we got
home the ground was totally dry and the rain gauge registered zero.
We do have drip irrigation installed in all of our garden but we also
have to use it carefully 'cause we're on a well and don't want to run
it dry.
Must be thankful for what we do harvest though, both bush beans and
pole beans gave bumper crops, we blanched, vac packed and froze enough
till the harvest next year. Gave some to friends and took some to the
local food bank, hope they get some value from them.
Cucumber, squash, zucchini were a total bust, no cucumbers, no
zucchini and only a coupe of Delicata squash still looking like
they'll make it to harvest. Starting to get a few tomatoes but, there
definitely won't be enough to bother trying to can any.
Onions, leeks and potatoes doing very well. Gerry was digging some of
our Yukon Gold potatoes yesterday and there were some really large
spuds. Largest one so far weighed in at 802 grams.
Hot peppers doing fine, bell peppers nada.
You've mentioned your unbearable temperatures a few times lately and
I'm glad they're not here, I know I could not live in 104F - 106F. Our
daytime temps for the last few days have been in the mid-60'sF which
suits me fine. Unfortunately, weatherman is calling for mi-80'sF by
the weekend.
Stay well George, our best wishes to you, Miz Anne and Tilly.

Ross.
Southern Ontario, Canada

On Thursday, 20 August 2015 11:30:09 UTC-4, Ro...@home wrote:
> On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 10:49:26 -0700 (PDT), Randal Oulton
>
>
> >On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
> >>
> >> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
> >> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
> >> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
> >> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
> >> children say.
> >
> >George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.)
>
> Are you talking about the standard 70mm lids?
> If so, head over to your local Dollarama. Their price has gone up
> twice in the last two years but, as of a few days ago, Bernardin
> standard 70mm lids are still only CND $1.50/doz.
> We used a box and a half yesterday on 3 batches of spiced pear jam
> (six - 250ml jars per batch).
>
> Ross.
> Southern Ontario, Canada

That's a great price Ross, I'll keep that in mind. I've switched mostly to Tattlers now, got about 1200 Tattler lids on the go. Where did you get the spiced pear jam recipe from?

On Thu, 20 Aug 2015 20:35:09 -0700 (PDT), Randal Oulton
> wrote:

>On Thursday, 20 August 2015 11:30:09 UTC-4, Ro...@home wrote:
>> On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 10:49:26 -0700 (PDT), Randal Oulton
>>
>>
>> >On Friday, 14 August 2015 13:59:05 UTC-4, George Shirley wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>> >> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>> >> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>> >> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>> >> children say.
>> >
>> >George, what are the jars going for now? In Canada, sometime in the past few weeks they *raised* the prices of jars about an average of a buck a dozen. Bernardin brand (Ball's sister brand in Canada) pint jars (with lids and rings) are 8.99 or 9.99 now depending where you get them; you can get Golden Harvest pints at Crappy Tire though for 7.99. Replacement metal (flat part) lids are basically 30 cents each. (3.60 for a box of twelve.)
>>
>> Are you talking about the standard 70mm lids?
>> If so, head over to your local Dollarama. Their price has gone up
>> twice in the last two years but, as of a few days ago, Bernardin
>> standard 70mm lids are still only CND $1.50/doz.
>> We used a box and a half yesterday on 3 batches of spiced pear jam
>> (six - 250ml jars per batch).
>>
>> Ross.
>> Southern Ontario, Canada
>
>That's a great price Ross, I'll keep that in mind. I've switched mostly to Tattlers now, got about 1200 Tattler lids on the go. Where did you get the spiced pear jam recipe from?

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, been really busy for the past
week.
Don't remember where we got the recipe but, we've been using it for
many years. Here it is:

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Spiced Pear Jam

Jam

840 grams pears; peeled & chopped
1 pkg. fruit pectin powder
1 kg granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon butter

Peel, core and chop pears. (We use the food processor after peeling &
coring). Measure 840 grams into our jam pan. Add fruit pectin and mix
well.
In a separate bowl, measure sugar and spices and mix them together and
set aside.
Bring fruit/pectin mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring
constantly. Add sugar and spices all at once, mix well, add butter*
and return to boil, stirring constantly.
Boil hard for one minute and remove from heat.*Skim foam with a metal
spoon*. Ladle mixture into hot 250ml jars,leaving 1/4 inch headspace,
wipe rims, apply lids and rings and process in a BWB for 10 minutes.
* Addition of butter eliminates need for skimming.

Yield: 6-250ml jars


** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.92 **

Ross

On 8/14/2015 11:59 AM, George Shirley wrote:

> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
> children say.


I used to get some good deals on jars in thrift stores. No longer.
Most places now want $1 apiece. I've stopped going to thrift stores.
There are no longer bargains or exceptional "finds" like silver or
pewter or even real Corningware. Bah, humbug.

gloria p

On 8/15/2015 3:17 PM, gloria p wrote:
> On 8/14/2015 11:59 AM, George Shirley wrote:
>
>> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>> children say.
>
>
> I used to get some good deals on jars in thrift stores. No longer.
> Most places now want $1 apiece. I've stopped going to thrift stores.
> There are no longer bargains or exceptional "finds" like silver or
> pewter or even real Corningware. Bah, humbug.
>
> gloria p
There was a community thrift store in Sulphur, LA that we hit weekly
when we lived there. Lots of good stuff, when the old ladies passed
their kids gave all their canning stuff to the thrift store and they
would call me and I would go and buy it all. Mostly for pennies on the
dollar for what they would cost retail.

My best score ever was in the late eighties, went to a church sale at
the local Penecostal church. Ran up on over 200 canning jars, bought
them for 5 cents each and they were happy and so was I. Also bought an
old cross cut two-man saw, a one man crosscut saw, and a few other tools
for not a lot of money. I paid what they asked for and we all felt good.

A few years later I was helping a friend fell a dead tree in his
property and the neighbor gave me $500 for the two saws. I felt bad so
gave half to the same church and we were both happy then. Good thing I
sold them as I was getting to old to be a lumberjack anymore anyway.

I don't visit Goodwill or other places like that as they are pricing
themselves out of business. I will hit a church sale anytime I see one.

When we moved back to Texas in 2012 the Sulphur store got lots and lots
of stuff that we had had for years and had not seen any of it for most
of those years. We've still got more stuff than two old people and a
little dog need but most of that is Miz Anne's and I don't mess with her
stuff. She might decide to get into my stuff if I did. <G>

On Sat, 15 Aug 2015 16:20:20 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>On 8/15/2015 3:17 PM, gloria p wrote:
>> On 8/14/2015 11:59 AM, George Shirley wrote:
>>
>>> Just back from a visit to the stupor market, egad! canning jars and lids
>>> at retail are ridiculous. Probably by mid-October both will be heavily
>>> discounted. I don't need any as I have about eight dozen jars of varying
>>> sizes up to half gallon. I AM NOT A HOARDER, no matter what my wife and
>>> children say.
>>
>>
>> I used to get some good deals on jars in thrift stores. No longer.
>> Most places now want $1 apiece. I've stopped going to thrift stores.
>> There are no longer bargains or exceptional "finds" like silver or
>> pewter or even real Corningware. Bah, humbug.
>>
>> gloria p
>There was a community thrift store in Sulphur, LA that we hit weekly
>when we lived there. Lots of good stuff, when the old ladies passed
>their kids gave all their canning stuff to the thrift store and they
>would call me and I would go and buy it all. Mostly for pennies on the
>dollar for what they would cost retail.
>
>My best score ever was in the late eighties, went to a church sale at
>the local Penecostal church. Ran up on over 200 canning jars, bought
>them for 5 cents each and they were happy and so was I. Also bought an
>old cross cut two-man saw, a one man crosscut saw, and a few other tools
>for not a lot of money. I paid what they asked for and we all felt good.
>
>A few years later I was helping a friend fell a dead tree in his
>property and the neighbor gave me $500 for the two saws. I felt bad so
>gave half to the same church and we were both happy then. Good thing I
>sold them as I was getting to old to be a lumberjack anymore anyway.
>
>I don't visit Goodwill or other places like that as they are pricing
>themselves out of business. I will hit a church sale anytime I see one.
>
>When we moved back to Texas in 2012 the Sulphur store got lots and lots
>of stuff that we had had for years and had not seen any of it for most
>of those years. We've still got more stuff than two old people and a
>little dog need but most of that is Miz Anne's and I don't mess with her
>stuff. She might decide to get into my stuff if I did. <G>

When we lived in Virginia we would go to a "junk" store in Norfolk. It
had mostly what was junk to me but one day as I was wandering around I
saw an All-American 915 canner and I think the other thing was a
Squeezo. Turned out the owner's wife used them for a year or so,
stopped canning, and he was selling. Think I paid about $50 for both.
After we moved to North Carolina we wandered into a church sale and
found an All-American 921 and paid about $30 for it.

We found that in our rural area yard sales are a great place to buy
canning jars and other such stuff. We hit one that had basement
shelves filled with jars of food. We selected jars we wanted, took
them out to the woods on our property and emptied them out and ran
them through the dishwasher.

Now I am thinking about getting rid of many of my jars. I am not
canning as much since I went down to the basement and saw how much
"canned stuff" was there and how old it was. So as I feel like it I
am emptying the jars and setting aside the ones I want to keep and
putting the other in boxes. Will check with younger son to see if he
wants them. If he doesn't, Habitat with probably get them.

Time to get to work on the tomatoes what are all over the kitchen &
dining room. Brought the 15 quart canners up rather than try to do 4
jars at a time. I did manage 14 pints of tomato relish on Wednesday.



--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

George Shirley > wrote:
>
> If there was iodine in the salt you used you will have cloudy pickles if
> I remember correctly.

Is the damage mostly cosmetic, or does it impair edibility?

Thanks for reading!

bob prohaska

User Bp wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>>
>> If there was iodine in the salt you used you will have cloudy pickles if
>> I remember correctly.
>
> Is the damage mostly cosmetic, or does it impair edibility?

the cookbook we use (from a long time ago)
mentions cloudy brine and the pickles may get
darker in color. it says nothing about the
taste being affected, but perhaps the super-
tasters may be able to notice the difference.

we've made two batches of bread and butter
pickles so far this year and we've already
opened and finished a jar from the first batch.
yum!

looks like the cucumbers are not flowering
much at the moment in this heat, but they may
have a chance to continue as there are still
green leaves on them and they are still growing.


songbird

On 8/16/2015 7:29 AM, songbird wrote:
> User Bp wrote:
>> George Shirley wrote:
>>>
>>> If there was iodine in the salt you used you will have cloudy pickles if
>>> I remember correctly.
>>
>> Is the damage mostly cosmetic, or does it impair edibility?
>
> the cookbook we use (from a long time ago)
> mentions cloudy brine and the pickles may get
> darker in color. it says nothing about the
> taste being affected, but perhaps the super-
> tasters may be able to notice the difference.
>
> we've made two batches of bread and butter
> pickles so far this year and we've already
> opened and finished a jar from the first batch.
> yum!
>
> looks like the cucumbers are not flowering
> much at the moment in this heat, but they may
> have a chance to continue as there are still
> green leaves on them and they are still growing.
>
>
> songbird
>
In daily temps where the heat index is around 104 to 106 our cukes are
gone as are the green beans, lima beans, the chiles and eggplant are
producing tiny fruit so may as well be gone. We're in the usual argument
where the clinical one, me, and the passionate one, her, are arguing
about murdering the rest of the garden. I see no point in trying to keep
plants that don't produce anything worth while. I think I am winning as
she who must be obeyed as said let's kill the garden. We do have two
young yellow squash giving us enough fruit for a meal each week so they
will live.

I think we will begin amending the raised beds next week and get them
ready for the fall garden. Has to be done in the very early dawn or
almost dark or the heat gets us. This has been the worse summer heat I
have seen in years. Lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and had daily
temps as high as 125F but the humidity was something like 5% whereas it
is always in the nineties here, or even higher at times. Got a little
sprinkle of rain yesterday, didn't even stain the board fence, I think
it was evaporating before it hit the ground. Even the dawg doesn't want
to go outside.

Come on fall.

Maldon at least doesn't have the caking agents in it, so you're good to go that way.

If this chart here is correct and gives full details about its composition, if there's any iodine, it's negligible trace elements that weren't worth mentioning.

http://www.saltworks.us/maldon_seasa...l#.Vc906_Qeok8

This (odd) page http://www.shopwell.com/maldon-sea-s...s/p/4797200000 says "does not supply iodine, a necessary nutrient."

This page http://www.epicurious.com/archive/bl...healthier.html says "Some types of sea salt, including many from Greece, are iodized. But flaky Maldon salt from England--my personal favorite--and fleur de sel from France are not among them" (Though all the writer is asserting is that there is no added iodine, which we already know.)


It's very hard to find any information directly on the topic from a reputable authority on how much if any iodine is naturally present in Maldon Salt. I'll write to the Maldon people and ask directly. But the answer may take a while. After all, it has to come all the way from Maldon on the Mud (what the locals call the town); I have family who were born there.

I'd be willing to bet 50 cents though that you're okay as far as clouding and discoloration goes.


NOW, as far as the actual act of using Maldon Salt for pickling! That's as sacrilegious as Nigella Lawson tossing it into her pasta water! :}