Two food related questions...

[drummerboy]

1.  Pickle making time!  I made my first batch and they're really soft and mushy, my mom suggested it might be the city water, as she's canned for years without adding alum or calcium chloride and her pickles are nice and firm.  Suggestions?

2.  Anyone have experience growing bean sprouts?  I know how to sprout them no problem, but the trick is getting nice thick ones.  Now that I'm on the keto diet, I really miss pasta, and realize bean sprouts would make a good substitute.  I found the konjac root in the pouch, but that stuff is expensive.

[Lynne]

1.  Pickle making time!  I made my first batch and they're really soft and mushy, my mom suggested it might be the city water, as she's canned for years without adding alum or calcium chloride and her pickles are nice and firm.  Suggestions?

2.  Anyone have experience growing bean sprouts?  I know how to sprout them no problem, but the trick is getting nice thick ones.  Now that I'm on the keto diet, I really miss pasta, and realize bean sprouts would make a good substitute.  I found the konjac root in the pouch, but that stuff is expensive.

For the pickles, you used tap water and your mother has well water? I would use filtered water, i.e. buy it from the store.

[MundaCorMeum]

For the thick sprouts, you need mung beans. 

[MundaCorMeum]

Also, julienned veggies make a great pasta substitute.  You can purchase a veggie spiraling tool thingy that essentially turns vegetables into spaghetti.  For lasagna, you can easily substitute zuchinni or eggplant for the pasta.  Just slice really thin.

[martin88nyc]

My father is a master of cucumber pickling.  First of all never use aluminum cans. Get a big jar. Non ionized salt. Sea or rock is best. Garlic, mustard seeds and dill(stalks and flowers,leaves) horseradish. If you can get a cherry leaf or black curant leaf all the better
Heaping tablespoon of salt or even more for every liter of water. It is also important to boil the water before pouring it over cucumbers and all of the above.

[drummerboy]

I've got two barrels of cukes in the root cellar now, fermenting them the old fashioned way, we'll see if that makes a difference as well