Pickled Greens Recipes

PICKLED MUSTARD GREENS, CHINESE STYLE

Steps:

• Bring everything but the salt and mustard greens to a boil in a large pot. Turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Pour everything into a vessel that you can weigh, and weigh the water plus spices in grams. Write this down.
• Wash you mustard greens well, then shake them dry and weigh them in grams. Write this down.
• When it's cool, weigh out 2 percent of the total weight of greens + water + spices in salt. Dissolve this in the liquid. If you use fine-grained salt you should have no problem. If the salt doesn't want to dissolve, stir until it does.
• NOTE: If you don't want to weigh all this out, just use the salt ratio I have in the ingredients list. It is approximately the same, but not exactly.
• Get out your fermenting crock or 5 quart-sized Mason jars with 5 narrow jelly jars to keep the greens submerged. You need this many because you will only pack the greens in 3/4 of the way into the jars -- you want at least 1 inch of brine above the level of the greens.
• Submerge the greens in the brine, using a chopstick or skewer to get rid of any air bubbles. Put the weights on the greens if you have them. If not, place the Mason jars in the sink and put the narrow jelly jars in them. The brine will overflow but the narrow jar will prevent the greens from contacting the air. Set the jars on a baking sheet and put in a cool place away from direct sunlight.
• Let them ferment at least 3 days, or longer. Mold may form eventually. This is normal. I wait until the mold cap is pretty solid, then pick it off. It's not harmful unless it's black.
• Finish by packing jars tight with the fermented greens, leaving about 1/2 inch of brine over them. Tighten the lids and put in the fridge. They will continue to ferment very slowly, so open the jars every week or two to release pressure. If you want to kill the ferment, boil the brine and cool before packing the jars the final time.

PICKLED MUSTARD GREENS

Steps:

• First, put some rice in a bowl and pour some cold boiled water to wash the rice. Try to rub the rice and make milky colored water. Only need the washed rice water later.
• Wash and soak gai choi very well to remove sand and dirt. Boil a pot of water, wait until it's boiling. Then, add washed gai choi and make sure all the leaves are soaked in boiling water. Don't need to completely cook. Just soak in boiling water for a few seconds. The purpose of this is to kill bacterias and sterilize the vegetables because I washed the vegetables and did not put them under the sun.
• After that, put the boiled gai choy in a bowl to drain excess water.
• Next, rub some kosher salt on boiled gai choy. This step is very important to rub salt on every leaf.
• Next, put the salted gai choi into a glass container. Then, pour washed rice water and fill it up. Make sure the liquid covers all the vegetables. If the vegetable keeps floating up, put a small cup or sauce dish on the vegetable and put down to close the jar. Let it ferment for 21 days or 3 weeks. Put them in a shade area.

PICKLED GREEN TOMATOES

Steps:

• Combine vinegar, 3/4 cup water, sugar, spices, and 2 tablespoons salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Fill clean containers tightly with tomatoes and onion. Add boiling brine to cover completely. Let cool completely. Cover, label, and refrigerate at least 1 week before serving, or up to 3 months.

PICKLED GREEN BEANS

Steps:

• Pack beans into 4 hot 1-pint jars to within 1/2 in. of the top. Add cayenne, garlic and dill seed to jars., In a large saucepan, bring water, vinegar and salt to a boil., Carefully ladle hot liquid over beans, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot mixture. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars; screw on bands until fingertip tight., Place jars into canner with simmering water, ensuring that they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil; process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

PICKLED GREEN BEANS

Steps:

• Cut green beans to fit inside pint canning jars.
• Place green beans in a steamer over 1 inch of boiling water, and cover. Cook until tender but still firm, for 3 minutes. Plunge beans into ice water. Drain well.
• Pack the beans into four hot, sterilized pint jars. Place 1 clove garlic and 2 sprigs dill weed in each jar, against the glass. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to each jar.
• In a large saucepan over high heat, bring vinegar and water to a boil. Pour over beans.
• Fit the jars with lids and rings and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

PICKLED GREEN GARLIC

Steps:

• Place sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, juniper berries, mustard seeds, cardamom, ginger, fennel seed, coriander, and red pepper flakes in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat; cook until sugar has dissolved.
• Place green garlic in a bowl; pour liquid over garlic and cover. Let stand until cooled.

PICKLED GREEN TOMATOES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, place tomatoes, garlic and chiles. In a saucepan, bring vinegar, water and salt to a simmer until salt dissolves. Pour over tomatoes; cover. Let stand 2 hours. Transfer to jars, if desired; seal tightly. Refrigerate up to 1 month.