Fermenting.

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Originally Posted by zipcode

Not sure if hock or shank, but it looks exactly like the first picture in that link (it can be that part from the front or rear leg).

Now more thoughts about fermenting. After a few more successful retries at pickling peppers I would say the results are as should, but they are still not like original pickled greek peppers that I can buy (at a very high price from one turkish shop).
There is something in their recipe which is different, and I don't know what. I don't think it's just the variety used, it's too different. I used lots of garlic too, thinking this may be the secret, and it's still not the same. First of all I think they stop the fermentation fairly early with tons of salt (they are really salty, and not very sour but definitely don't taste half pickled either).
My opinion is that they add some herbs or 'stuff' that I have no idea which they are. It sometimes has a slight smell of olives (like kalamata 'cured?' olives, the somewhat pink ones you can buy, which are the absolute best olives I have trie).

Also it's tough to find good peppers for pickling, too many are too hard in texture or thick skin, or very commonly reaaly seedy.
This is what I tried this year:
Golden Greek - thin skin but kinda hard texture, very thin walls, very good for grilling actually, but less so for pickling, has a bitter taste pickled. Almost no heat.
Caloro - heat is some, but not too much. Extraordinarily seedy, basically useless, otherwise if you core them they are probably the best. (not much will be left after coring).
Jalapeno TAM - supposedly milder jalapeno, dunno, it was really, really hot for me. I had to remove core and some veins to make them milder. Best texture, really thin skin, not too much seeds, but taste pickled is rather average (just sour).
Aci Biber - means hot pepper in Turkish, which means it's one of 100 with the same name. Kinda seedy, kinda hard, very nice flavour eaten raw still small and tender (probably should be pickled at that stage too if you can gather enough).

Next year I'll have to try some others, will keep the Jalapeno. I had Hungarian Wax but it didn't want to germinate.

One of the problems is what is in the jar for market isn't what they did to ferment it.
At least that is the way it is in the US.
The ferment first then get rinsed and then put in another brine vinegar solution with spices.
Sweet gherkins start out sour.
The Greek peppers may not have even been fermented.
Trying to duplicate what a person finds in the market is very difficult if not impossible.
Another problem is people just dont give it enough time sometimes it is months.


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