How to Make (Fermented and Vinegar) Pickles

Definition of “pickle” from Merriam-Webster Online:

1: a solution or bath for preserving or cleaning a) a brine or vinegar solution in which foods are preserved; b) any of various baths used in industrial cleaning or processing.
2: a difficult situation, a plight.
3: an article of food that has been preserved in brine or in vinegar; specifically: a cucumber that has been so preserved.

Pickles may taste good, but for people who make their own, the process has a Zen-like draw. Pickling "makes sense in a technological world, rattled by 9/11,” said Rick Field, proprietor of Rick's Picks. “It's something you can do, it's a nice antidote."

Eugenia Bone, author of the 2008 cookbook Urban Preservation, agrees. In home-canning, "you preserve the day, you preserve the moment." The act of preserving relaxes her and is "cheaper than a shrink."

There are two basic methods of making pickles - vinegar and fermented.

To read more about the science behind these traditional methods of food preservation, or see the processes in action, watch executive chef Matt Weingarten in How to make (fermented) pickles or McClure’s Pickles impresario Bob McClure in How to make (vinegar) pickles.

And for all those who fear killing themselves and their families, listen to fermentation expert, Sandor Katz explain botulism.