What are the methods for pickling Jerusalem artichokes?

How to pickle Jerusalem artichokes? I believe many friends have this question, let me answer it for you below.

Jerusalem artichoke pickles

Today, I went back to my hometown to visit the graves. My second aunt insisted that we bring back a bag of Jerusalem artichokes that she had just dug from the field. I have only heard of this thing, but never eaten it. It seems that it can be used to make pickles. After returning home, I quickly searched the Internet to find out how to make pickled Jerusalem artichokes. If possible, I would also try making them. If you don’t check it, you won’t know that Jerusalem artichokes also have medicinal value. It has a two-way regulating effect on blood sugar, that is, it lowers the blood sugar of diabetics and increases the blood sugar of hypoglycemic patients. This is amazing. I must let my father eat more. Jerusalem artichokes can not only be eaten by soaking, but also fried. This is simple. I also found a very detailed recipe for making pickles. I copied it down first, so as not to forget it.

Pickled Jerusalem artichokes

1. Pickles must have good salt water (some comrades above call it mother water, but Chinese generally call it old salt water---in the past, when a Chinese girl got married, her mother must prepare a jar of old salt water as a dowry, so a jar of old salt water can be passed down for several generations, and it is passed down to daughters but not sons). The preparation of salt water is very simple but time-consuming--first buy some relatively cheap green vegetables, wash them and dry them (one or two hours will do), put them in a ceramic jar (the introduction of the jar above is very detailed, I add that the ceramic jar for making salt water must be unglazed and not glass), compact it, and then put in a large amount of coarse salt (do not use iodized salt, you can use large grains of salt in the north), it is best to sprinkle a layer of salt on each layer of vegetables, seal the jar with water and pickle for 5-7 days, take out the green vegetables and squeeze out the salt water, throw away the green vegetables (these green vegetables are astringent and particularly unpalatable), and keep the salt water; repeat 3-5 times, leaving only salt water each time, until the amount of salt water is about half a jar. The brine made in this way is still not as fragrant as the real "old" brine, but it's okay.

2. Once the salt water is ready, almost everything is done. Make sure to pickle vegetables at any time, and add salt as you add vegetables. However, animal oil is strictly prohibited, and the water seal of the jar must be tight. This old salt water is very useful. For example, if you have old salt water, the first step of making salt water is very simple: just add salt, water, spices and vegetables to a quarter of the jar of old salt water to make kimchi, which is very simple.

3. Some tips for making delicious kimchi: put radish, cabbage (thick stems, not tender leaves) and other crispy vegetables in the pot for 3 days and eat them. The fragrance of the vegetables is sweet, crisp and delicious. Oh, my mouth is watering. Chili and ginger can be soaked for a long time. Not only are they delicious, but they also have a salty taste. If radish is soaked for a long time, it can be made into sour radish, which can be made into sour radish soup, which can be used to sober up.

4. In addition, someone above mentioned sauerkraut. The preparation of sauerkraut is different from that of kimchi, so please do not confuse the two.

To add:

1. The first key to making good kimchi is to find a well-sealed cake or jar, which will help the kimchi water ferment. The pickled vegetables will be crispy and delicious without being too sour.

2. The turnover of kimchi should be fast. The reason why the kimchi in restaurants is delicious is that their kimchi is "bathed kimchi" (soaked in the evening and eaten in the morning, and finished within one day), and it is dried when the taste is the best. Therefore, if there are not many people in the family, it is recommended to use a small jar or a large bottle. If you use a bottle, check whether the sealant of the bottle cap is intact. When closing the cap, cover the bottle mouth with two layers of plastic paper or oil paper and then tighten the cap. The tighter the better.

3. It is best to use kimchi salt, that is, salt without iodine, otherwise the kimchi will become soft and sour quickly. Otherwise, you have to add enough salt, but the disadvantage is that it is too salty, which I don't like.

4. It is best to use raw water to make brine, as this kind of brine is not delicate and is not prone to mold.

5. Sichuan pepper, dried chili peppers, ginger, and a little rice wine are essential (I think it’s best not to use fennel or something like that). Add some rock sugar or sesame candy to make it taste better (white sugar is also fine).

6. You can soak anything. In addition to radish, I have also soaked bell peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, celery, radish, cowpeas, young ginger, watermelon peel, radish peel, cauliflower stems, cabbage leaves and stems, Chinese cabbage stalks, green vegetable stalks (the kind that Chinese people call "瓢儿白")... I am more creative than the Chinese. Haha... I suggest that you put the ingredients in the sun to remove some moisture before soaking (don't expose bell peppers and leaves for too long). I feel that it works better than not exposing them to the sun!

7. Finally, the red radish mentioned by the OP is the key to maintaining kimchi water. Water soaked with red radish is not easy to mold and tastes better than water without red radish. I strongly recommend the "rouge radish" from Nanchong, China. This kind of radish, which is red inside and out, has a special water-maintaining effect. Some people said that the water in Shanghai is not suitable for kimchi, but this can be changed. After I returned to Shanghai, I asked someone to buy "rouge radish" in China and brought it back. It is a panacea. The taste of kimchi is suddenly different!

There are many dishes in Sichuan cuisine, and kimchi is one of its specialties. Usually when you go to a Sichuan restaurant, there are always two side dishes on the table before the meal. Usually one is kimchi and the other is peanuts. There are also two kinds of peanuts, one is fried crispy and fragrant peanuts, and the other is braised peanuts. And kimchi has many requirements. In China, every household has kimchi jars of different sizes. In the past, a Beijing girl thought kimchi was really delicious, so she asked her Chinese neighbor how to make it, and she followed the example, but the kimchi she made was always bad. So people who know how to make kimchi think it is too simple, and people who don’t know how to make it think it is too strange. Why do the kimchi you make yourself always go bad?

Tools: Special kimchi jars made of pottery. The unglazed ones are called clay jars, while the glazed ones look better. The jar mouth is protruding, and there is a concave tray (i.e. a water tank) around the jar mouth. The jar can be sealed by buckling a bowl. It can accelerate the fermentation of kimchi in the absence of oxygen and produce a large amount of lactic acid. When making kimchi, fill the tray next to it with water to seal the jar to prevent air from entering. If there is no kimchi jar, other containers can be used instead, but the container mouth must be large and tightly sealed, and not breathable. When I went to buy kimchi jars with my mother when I was a child, she would always carefully check whether there were sand holes and cracks on the outside of the jar, which was related to whether the kimchi would go bad when making it. Now a kind of glass jar is popular. This jar is more beautiful, and you can see the vegetables of various colors inside from the outside. This is also a way to grab customers' attention in restaurants.

There are two types of kimchi, each with its own unique uses and cooking methods.

One is the diving kimchi, which is called diving kimchi because it can be taken out and eaten quickly after being soaked in the jar. It can be used as a special dish. Usually, the assorted kimchi in Sichuan restaurants and the side dishes on the table before meals are of this type.

Ingredients: Usually melon vegetables or hard roots, stems, leaves, fruits, etc., cut into long strips. Meat dishes usually include pig ears, chicken feet and pork offal.

Method: Bring water to a boil, add salt (about 50-60 grams of salt per 1 kg of water), wait for the salt to completely dissolve, add the appropriate amount of ingredients, and pour into the kimchi jar (it is best to fill the jar with brine to 3/5 of the jar). After the brine is completely cooled, add the vegetable pieces. Use special chopsticks to eat kimchi, and do not bring oil with you to prevent oil and raw water from entering the jar, otherwise it will bloom (white mold will grow on the surface of the water). Keep the water tank at the mouth of the jar clean and change the water frequently to fill it up.

How to eat: Vegetables such as lettuce and radish only need to be soaked for eight to twelve hours. The vegetables soaked in this way are crisp and slightly salty, which is very refreshing. If you like spicy food, you can pour some chili oil on it and mix it with a little MSG. It is a rare delicacy.

The other is used as a condiment.

Ingredients: pepper, green vegetables, white radish, cowpea, ginger.

practice:

1. Wash and air-dry the vegetables to be pickled.

2. Bring the water to a boil, add an appropriate amount of salt (about 80 grams of salt per 1 kilogram of water) and set aside.

3. Make water for the jar: Use the "mother water" from the previous kimchi jar, or ask friends who already have kimchi jars at home for some. Put it in fresh water for a better taste, which contains a lot of lactic acid bacteria. If you can't find it, you have to make it yourself. Pour the cooled clean water into the mother water.

4. Add seasonings, pepper, fennel, white wine and water and it is ready.

5. Put the prepared vegetables into the jar for pickling. Fill the jar with vegetables, leaving as little space as possible, with the liquid level close to the mouth of the jar and the salt water covering the vegetables. Pour cold boiled water into the sink around the mouth of the jar, cover it with a bowl, and place it in a cool place.

6. Keep the kimchi in a cool place and make sure there is always water at the mouth of the jar to prevent air and bacteria from entering the jar. If you find that there is a growth in the jar, add a little white wine.

7. When pickling peppers and vegetables, you can use a small amount of mother water, put in the peppers, and then add salt, a layer of peppers and a layer of salt. The brine does not need to cover the pickled vegetables.

How to eat:

1. In Sichuan cuisine, any dish with a fishy smell will use pickled peppers and pickled ginger as condiments. If the pickles are not authentic, the Sichuan cuisine is definitely not authentic.

2. Pickled radish: Choose small radishes, which will become plump after being pickled. You can use three or four pickled radishes to stew duck, which is very delicious.

3. Pickled cabbage: Pickled cabbage is usually added when cooking fish. Pickled cabbage fish can be made spicy or non-spicy, depending on your taste.

Pickled cabbage can also be used to make pickled cabbage vermicelli soup, or just wash the pickled cabbage, cut it into shreds, mix it with red chili oil and a little MSG, it is also a very delicious Chinese breakfast accompaniment.

4. Pickled cowpea: Stir-fried minced meat is a common but delicious side dish.

Note: If the kimchi is not tasty, you can make some adjustments: if it is not crispy, add some wine; if it is too sour, add some salt; if it is moldy and tastes bad, it is caused by too much heat in the jar or unclean tools. At this time, you should remove the mold spots, add salt and a small amount of white wine, move it to a cool place, and expose it for about 10 minutes every day. The moldy smell will disappear naturally in about 3 to 5 days. If the kimchi is found to be soft, rotten and smelly, it means that the kimchi has deteriorated and cannot be eaten, and the vegetable brine cannot be used anymore.

Every year when pickled cabbage, peppers and ginger are ripe, every household in China will buy dozens of kilograms of dried vegetables to make pickled cabbage. These vegetables can stay in the jar for a year, but the brine tastes better and better as it is used, just like an aged cellar, which becomes more fragrant with time.

raw material:

Young beans, carrots, cabbage, young ginger, water, salt, dried chili peppers, brown sugar, white wine, white vinegar, old ginger.

Preparation method:

Wash the kimchi jar and drain it, wash the dried chili peppers, remove the stems and drain the water, peel and wash the old ginger, put the above seasonings in the jar for later use; pour clean water into the jar, add water inside the rim of the jar, cover the lid, and it will become kimchi water; wash various vegetables, dry them, put them in the jar and cover it tightly, put it in a cool place outdoors for 1 to 2 days in summer, and 4 to 5 days in winter before eating.

When winter comes, a kind of root vegetable will be on the market in our countryside - Jerusalem artichoke.

However, it is rarely planted in rural areas now. Jerusalem artichokes are usually pickled and eaten with porridge. They are crunchy and are a good side dish. I heard from the old people that people were very poor in the past and there was very little cooking oil for cooking. In winter, there are even fewer green vegetables. Jerusalem artichokes are a refreshing and delicious dish that can be eaten pickled, and it is very convenient to pickle, so they are particularly popular with people. So a lot of Jerusalem artichokes were planted in the fields. When winter comes, dig them out of the ground. Wash these Jerusalem artichokes, then dry them naturally, add appropriate amount of salt and water, pickle them for a month and you can eat them. Jerusalem artichokes are very crisp and taste good. In the years without oil and water, people have a special attachment to them.

There is a certain logic in eating radishes in winter and ginger in summer! Recent studies have found that Jerusalem artichokes have a two-way regulating effect on blood sugar. On the one hand, they can lower the blood sugar of diabetic patients, and on the other hand, they can increase the blood sugar of hypoglycemic patients.

Studies have shown that Jerusalem artichokes contain a substance that is very similar in structure to endogenous insulin in the human pancreas. When sugar appears in the urine, eating Jerusalem artichokes can control the sugar in the urine, indicating that it has the effect of lowering blood sugar. When a person has hypoglycemia, eating Jerusalem artichokes can also relieve it.