When Pickling Eggplant by the Gallon...
- Thread starter RJM62
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Sac Arrow
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Oh holy crap dude, I was right in the middle of pickling eggplant and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to let it go for an hour.
Whew.
Whew.
steingar
Taxi to Parking
For an infusion pickle. Not quite as important for a fermented pickle, which is way better anyway. Never pickled eggplant, though I think I've pickled just about everything else.
Michael, stop by whenever you like and try some. My pickled eggplant is legendary.
The reason for the inverting (for the benefit of the uninitiated) is because the eggplant both cook and infuse in the jar. In a gallon jar, the hot vinegar / brine rises to the top, resulting in more cooking and infusion of the eggplant strips on top. Inverting the jar every 20 minutes or so evens thing out.
-Rich
silver-eagle
En-Route
I cannot imagine what a pickled eggplant would taste like.
Well, you're welcome to stop by and find out, too.
There are a lot of variations on the recipe. Mine is based on my grandmother's, but spiced up a bit.
-Rich
silver-eagle
En-Route
Sounds like a good idea. I'll plan to add a side trip on my upcoming NY visit.
I don't see any recipe posted. :sly:
I'm definitely interested if you're willing to share
Here's the recipe. Maybe next time I'll take pictures. But it's simple enough.
The spices, of course, are just recommendations. If you hate one of them, leave it out. If you love one of them, use more.
Ingredients (for one gallon)
6 pounds eggplants, more or less
2 3/4 quarts of white vinegar
1 1/2 quart of water
2 hot red cherry peppers
2 hot green chili peppers (small to medium sized)
Optional: 2 habanero or 1 ghost peppers, if you like it really hot
1 tbsp marjoram
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp sage
1/2 tbsp each of oregano, basil, rosemary, and whole mustard seeds
Several sprigs of fresh dill
Kosher salt or coarse sea salt. No iodized salt!
Also needed: One-gallon glass jar, cleaned and sanitized. (Washing with hot water and detergent, and rinsing in hot water, is good enough.)
Procedure
1. Peel the eggplants.
2. Slice the eggplants into 1/4 inch slices, and then again into 1/4 inch strips. Or use a Veg-O-Matic if you can find one. (It slices, it dices, etc...)
2a. Optional: Cut the longer strips in half so they're not longer than about 5 inches.
3. Put the eggplants into a really, really big bowl after they're cut into strips, one eggplant at a time. After each eggplant is sliced, sprinkle the salt liberally over the strips, and kind of mix it into the strips.
4. Repeat the above until all eggplants are sliced and salted.
5. Put something on top of the eggplants to weigh them down. You can use a plate with something heavy on top of it (like a pot of water), but I like to use a slightly smaller bowl than one the eggplants are in, and smush it down onto them.
6. Let the eggplants sit for at least two hours. A whole lot of dark juice will make its way out of them. It's bitter and slightly toxic. That's why you're doing this step: to get rid of that bitter, slightly toxic juice.
7. Once most of the juice has been drawn out of the eggplants, grab a handful of eggplant strips at a time and toss them into a colander. Rinse briefly with fresh water, then squeeze dry-ish and toss into another big bowl. You can also use this opportunity to rinse away some of the eggplant seeds. Keep doing this until all the eggplant is rinsed and squeezed dry-ish.
8. Put the vinegar and water, with about 2 tablespoons of salt, into a pot and start heating it.
9. Mix the dry spices and dill into the eggplant strips until they're evenly distributed. Just sprinkle them in and mix it up with your hands. Sing Italian songs while doing this for the full effect.
10. Slice the cherry peppers into quarters, and the chilis into rings. Why rings? It makes it less likely you'll eat one thinking it's an eggplant. Discard the seeds.
11. Grab a hand full of the eggplant / spice mix and put it in the jar. Toss a pepper in on top of it. Shake the jar a bit to settle it. Repeat until all the eggplants and peppers are in the jar. They should fill the jar between one-half and three-quarters full
12. When the vinegar and water is boiling, carefully pour it into the jar until it's full. Let it settle a bit and top it off.
13. Cap the jar, and invert it every 20 minutes or so until it cools off.
14. Store the eggplant in a dark, coolish place for at least five days before eating. Refrigerate after opening.
And that's that. Enjoy!
-Rich
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By the way, do not omit the salting and sitting step! I'm not kidding about the toxin part.
Eggplants are nightshades, all of which (to my knowledge) contain varying amounts of a toxin called solanine. You have to get it out of the eggplant before making any kind of eggplant recipe. It'll give you one serious case of the Hershey squirts if you don't get rid of it. (Don't ask me how I know.)
-Rich
Eggplants are nightshades, all of which (to my knowledge) contain varying amounts of a toxin called solanine. You have to get it out of the eggplant before making any kind of eggplant recipe. It'll give you one serious case of the Hershey squirts if you don't get rid of it. (Don't ask me how I know.)
-Rich
silver-eagle
En-Route
I don't know how much solanine is in the skin versus the rest of the eggplant. Some people leave it on. I prefer to take it off. In either case, the salt and soak still applies.
-Rich
steingar
Taxi to Parking
Yeah, I figured. I would do similar things but leave it in a crock for a month. That said eggplant isn't particularly nutritious, so I've never gone out of my way to ferment it. Several poster here have said that my sauerkraut is to die for, similar reports were made of my cucumber pickles. I've found that my Giardinaria is not only delicious, but goes great in dirty martinis. Won't do eggs anymore though, had a batch go bad. I need to make me some more kim chi, I love the stuff.
The nice thing about fermented pickles is that the bacteria that sour the food also deposit lots of tasty long-chain molecules, as well as lots of vitamins. That said, infusion pickles are way way faster, and you can of course exert far more control over the infusion. Be careful though, odds are your pickles are high in sodium. Mine certainly are. Still, pickling is the best method of preservation for maintaining the nutritional value of food.
Matthew
Touchdown! Greaser!
Mmm....the wife of a buddy of mine makes a mean pickled jalapeño mix. It is outstanding on grilled brats.
steingar
Taxi to Parking
In the summer I usually pickle ones grown locally with carrots. Quite a treat.