Firming Additives

Firming additives are added to improve pickle firmness. Alum - aluminum compound forms a firmer pickle. Alum is no longer recommended by the USDA as some people were having digestive problems. The calcium in lime improves pickle firmness. Turmeric is often added to improve color. Adding chopped horseradish root helps to keep pickled cucumbers crisp. When fermenting at low temperature adding oak leaves to brine helps to prevent spoilage. Oak leaves contain tannin acid which keeps spoilage bacteria at bay until fermenting bacteria produce enough lactic acid for the sauerkraut to be stable.

Home made pickles develop soft texture due to the enzymes that are present. The best fix to the problem is soaking cucumbers for 12-24 hours in a solution of 1 cup of food grade lime to 1 gallon of water. Excess lime absorbed by the cucumbers is removed by draining cucumbers, rinsing and then re-soaking them in fresh water for 1 hour. This rinsing and soaking step should be performed two more times.

Available from Amazon

The Practical Guide to Making Salami

The Practical Guide to Making Salami is a companion book to The Art of Making Fermented Sausages, published in 2008. Since then, more information has become available; safety standards have been updated and tightened, new cultures have appeared, and getting supplies and newer equipment online has become more accessible. The most relevant theory has been transferred from The Art of Making Fermented Sausages. Still, The Practical Guide to Making Salami includes plenty of new materials such as fermented spreadable sausages, acidified sausages, or combining acidulants with natural fermentation. The recipes section has been expanded and includes 264 selected recipes from different countries so the reader can immediately produce sausages.

1001 Greatest Sausage Recipes
Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages
Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design
The Art of Making Fermented Sausages
Make Sausages Great Again
German Sausages Authentic Recipes And Instructions
Polish Sausages
Spanish Sausages
Home Production of Vodkas, Infusions, and Liqueurs
Home Canning of Meat, Poultry, Fish and Vegetables
Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Pickles, and Relishes
Curing and Smoking Fish
Making Healthy Sausages
The Art of Making Vegetarian Sausages
The Amazing Mullet: How To Catch, Smoke And Cook The Fish