What You Should Know About Pickling

Pickling is one of the methods of preserving foodstuffs, with the aim of preventing the multiplication of bacteria, and preserving food for as long as possible. The pickling is done either by an anaerobic fermentation in salt water, or by soaking in vinegar. The changes that take place in the foodstuffs, during pickling, result in an alteration in the texture and taste of the foodstuffs. So, they acquire a distinctive taste and smell, and the resulting food is called pickles.
There are many types of food preserved by pickling, and every city or region has its own special types of pickles.

Types of Pickling:

1.Unreal pickling:
It is preserving the prepared fruits in a brine or acid solution with some spices and dipping them in it, then treating the medium with heat to 34.4 degrees Celsius for a quarter of an hour, and leaving them for a week until the fruits become edible. Therefore, this type of pickling is free of any microbial activity, just as in Kale, carrots, and olives.

2.Real pickling:
It is preserving the fruits in a brine solution, as pickling microbes produce lactic acid, which gives the product a sour taste and distinctive flavor, and the color changes to straw yellow, and this type takes about 3 to 5 weeks.

Some the Raw Materials That Used in Pickling:

Food raw materials:
Some types of food materials that are used in pickling are cucumbers, olives, carrots, turnips, cabbage, onions, lemons, green peppers, tomatoes, and cauliflower. In India and Sudan, they pickle Mango. Peaches, figs, almonds, and pears are pickled in Europe.

Salt
It is the table salt “sodium chloride” which is extracted from the sea, and the most widely used salt in the industry. Pure salt is a colorless and odorless powder that has a distinctive salty taste. The salt that is used for pickling must be free from impurities, especially the lime and magnesium salts that give it a bitter taste.

Water
Water must be pure and free of organic, alkaline materials and iron salts, as the organic materials work on the speed of rotting of the pickled materials, and the emission of foul musty odors, while the alkaline materials weaken the strength of the vegetable tissues cohesion. It also creates a bacteriological environment suitable for the growth of most microorganisms which harm the pickling processes. When starting the pickling process, some vinegar is added to the water; to stop the growth of all microorganisms and create a bacteriological environment suitable for the growth of lactic acid bacteria and lactic fermentation of vegetables.

Vinegar
Good types of vinegar are used in the pickling process that must not have an odor, such as those produced from starchy grains or ethyl alcohol. The vinegar should be clear and transparent without solid sediments or suspended membranes or containing acetic acid bacteria in its folds. it also must be old and not recently prepared to have the distinctive good flavor of vinegar, and the concentration of acetic acid in it is not less than 6%.

Spices
Spices give the pickled vegetables a special flavor and have no effects. The most commonly used types of spices include cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, black pepper, dill, thyme, lemon oil, orange, celery grains, cumin and coriander, and red pepper, mustard powder, or both of them can be used to give the pickles a spicy flavor.
Where the spices are added to the brine solutions and vinegar in the appropriate amount, then it is boiled until these solutions acquire the desired taste. The solutions are cooled then filtered to separate the spices from them for use in pickling, and it is usually preferred to use spice oils over their solid compounds for ease of use.

Stages of Pickling:

Salting:
The fruits to be pickled are immersed in brine solutions, or dry salt is added to them and left for a period that varies according to the type of fruit, the method of salting, and the desired product.

Processing:
It is to reduce the percentage of salt in the product to the ratio that is required for consumption until the product is palatable.

Preparing:
It is about preparing pickles in the appropriate way for marketing.

Where the pickling industry is widely used in Palestine, and there are many factories that carry out this type of industry, we, at Zadona Agro-Industrial Company, one of the Sinokrot Holding Companies, and the first Palestinian company specialized in agricultural industries and pickles, are distinguished by the production of pickles with high quality and with international standards, and to know more, please follow our accounts on social networks.

Sources:

https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84
http://aradina.kenanaonline.com/posts/186723
https://aradina.kenanaonline.com/posts/185721
https://aradina.kenanaonline.com/posts/185721