86. PICKLING consists in preserving fruits and vegetables in vinegar or
brine. Each of these liquids acts as a preservative, so that the
receptacles, or containers, for the food do not have to be sealed
air-tight, nor does the preserved food require much care in order to
have it keep perfectly.
The effect of the pickling liquids on both fruits and vegetables is very
similar. The salt in the brine or the vinegar hardens the cellulose of
the foods to such an extent that they are impervious to the action of
bacteria. While this permits the foods to keep well, it also makes them
difficult to digest, a fact that must be remembered when pickled foods
are included in the diet.
87. The procedure in pickling is simple. After the fruit or vegetable is
cleaned and prepared in the way desired, it is merely a matter of
placing the food in sterilized jars or crocks, pouring the hot
preserving liquid over it, allowing it to cool, and then storing it. In
some cases the food is cooked, and in others it is not. As a rule,
spices of some kind or other are added, both to aid in preserving and to
impart flavor.
88. Practically all large fruits and many vegetables are pickled, as is
shown in the recipes that follow. Foods preserved by pickling are known
as either _pickles_ or _relishes_. While both products are similar in
many respects, relishes are distinguished from pickles in that, as a
rule, they are made up from more than one kind of fruit or vegetable and
usually the pieces are cut or chopped and not put up whole. Often the
foods in relishes are chopped or cut so fine as to make it almost
impossible to tell what the fruit or vegetable was originally.
The food value of both these products is not extremely high, unless a
great quantity of sugar is used in the pickling. This is sometimes the
case with pickled peaches or pears, but seldom if ever with pickled
vegetables.
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