Pickled Products

Pickled Products

Pickled ProductsThe term pickles, if used unqualified, means cucumber pickles. Most pickled fruits and vegetables other than cucumbers are generally called by their names, such as pickled onion, pickled watermelon rind, pickled mango, or pickled turnip.

Mixed PickleMixed Pickle is a mixture of pickled fruits and vegetables.

Relish or PiccalilliThe term given to chopped mixed pickles.

ChutneyChutney is a hot spicy sweet pickle made from fruits and spices like ginger, garlic and chili.

Pickled products are not limited to fruits and vegetables. Eggs, meat and fish, when pickled, indeed lend zest and life to the diet.

Cucumber PicklesCucumbers are used either as green stock or as salt stock. The green stock is the fresh cucumber and processed as unfermented cucumber pickles (often called quickles). The salt stock is the fresh cucumbers transformed into pickles by controlled fermentation in salt medium. The fermented salt stock is then desalted by soaking in several changes of water and made into a number of varieties of dill, sour and sweet pickles.

Genuine dill picklesGenuine dill pickles are produced by natural fermentation of fresh cucumbers in about 30 degree salometer brine with added cured dill weeds, mixed spices and vinegar. These pickles are marketed in their original brine. Overnight or fresh fermented dill pickles are fermented in a weaker brine of 20 degree salometer for a short period of time. Fermentation is stopped after a few days either by cold storage or pasteurization. These pickles thus retain some of the flavor of the fresh cucumbers along with the dill flavor.

Sour picklesSour pickles are prepared from fully fermented salt stock, freshened to the desired salt content and packed in spiced 5% acid vinegar. It is marketed as whole sour pickles, sour mixed pickles and sour relish

Sweet pickles Sweet pickles are prepared from fully fermented salt stock, vinegar, spices and sugar ranging from 12 to 22 per cent of the pickling solution. Sweet pickles are marketed in many varieties, such as: sweet pickle sticks, chips or chunks, sweet dill pickle, mixed sweet pickle, or sweet relish.

Fermented or brined picklesFermented pickles or brined pickles undergo a curing process for several weeks in which fermentative bacteria produce acids necessary for the preservation process. These bacteria also generate flavor compounds which are associated with fermented pickles. Other vegetables may be fermented, such as using cabbage to produce sauerkraut. Initial fermentation may be followed by the addition of acid to produce such products as half dills or sweet gherkins.

Fresh- packed or Quick Process PicklesQuick process pickles are made from vegetables and fruits which have not been through a brining process. The ingredients are often soaked overnight in salt water to remove part of the water content and to make them crisp. Some recipes call for soaking a few hours in ice water, while other recipes involve mere addition of, or cooking in, spiced pickling solution. Chutneys, relishes and most fruit pickles belong to quick process since they are rarely made from brined products.

Examples of Pickled ProductsFermented Pickles *Cucumber Pickles

*Mixed pickle*Pickled onions

*Green tomato pickle

Unfermented PicklesQuick Process Pickles (Quickles)*Quick cucumber pickle*Ice water pickle

*Bread and butter pickle

*Pickled banana slices

*Mango sweet pickle

*Papaya sweet pickle

*Melon sweet pickle

*Spiced pineapple tidbits*Santol sweet pickle*Watermelon rind sweet pickleChutneys*Guava Chutney*Mango chutney

*Pineapple chutney

Relishes*Sweet pickle relish*Vegetable relish*Hot Dog relish

Other pickled fruits and vegetables*Pickled mangoes*Sinkamas pickle*Pickled pigs feet*Pickled tongue