Making pickles is often a time-consuming job. It involves a lot of drying, chopping, and storing job for the perfect taste. But often, the storage phase of pickles is what is the trickiest part. So, how does one store pickles? After spending hours together to prepare fresh ingredients, washing them, cutting, and finally picking it all, the most important step is storage. How to go about it? Pickles are recommended to be stored in a clean and sterilized container. Most people prefer using a clear glass jar because the contents within can easily be seen. So here he has listed below some of the best on Tips to store pickles.
Sterilizing at home can be done in one of the most unlikely ways, which is, using a microwave oven.
Here are the steps outlined as mentioned in the manual.
Also, do keep in mind the safety guidelines while using the microwave oven.
- Fill two glass jars up to half with water.
- Then, place these side by side inside your microwave oven.
- Heat the jars at high power for at least 2-3 minutes or until water boils.
- Next, empty the jars. Then drain them upside down on kitchen paper.
- You should note that the jars must be kept warm when the pickle is loaded into them.
- Close the jar caps tightly. Make sure the caps are also sterilized in the same way by pouring hot water on them and then leaving them to dry. Not to worry much as hot water droplets dry sooner as the steam evaporates fast.
Even if one chooses to store their pickle in a plastic container, the same principle of hot water drying and sterilizing applies. Sterilizing the containers by pouring hot water on them and their lids serve the purpose. Definitely keep in mind that pouring hot water is not the same as immersing the containers in hot water. The very obvious reason behind this is that if the plastic is immersed in hot water with its lid, the lid shall become loose and no longer be air or watertight. Also, it is important to keep a check on the freshness of the pickles.
Pickle de-coloring:
Keep a look at the changing colors of the pickle. If you notice changing color or darkening, it can be due to your storage issues. Prefer stainless steels in case of utensils as other metals can discolor cucumbers.
- Pink Liquid: If containers too old are used, they can cause pickle juice to have a slight pinky tint.
- Cloudy liquid: If you spot a cloudy layer in your pickle juice, it only indicates that you should have processed the vegetables a little longer. It is important that you follow not only recommended but also tested recipes.
- Shrinking of vegetables: often the vegetables shrink and there is a good reason for it. Usually, vegetables start to shrink if they absorb lots of salt or if they were not fresh enough. If the vegetables have a wax coating over the peel, they will shrink. So make sure to wash your vegetables properly.
- Soft pickle: If, on your first taste test of the pickle, you notice pickles the contents are very soft, then probably the contents have over absorbed the spices, which degrades the quality.
Often, commercially, chemical food preservatives are used. These are the substances that under specific conditions, will either delay the growth of microorganisms without having to destroy them or prevent deterioration of the quality.
Sugar, used as a natural preservative for making jams and jellies.
So these were some of the best Tips to store pickles, Do give them a try !!!
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