blanching grape leaves before adding to pickles?

So, folk wisdom says that tannins help keep cucumbers and other veggies crispy as they ferment in a brine.

But, I've noticed that grape leaves in particular become quickly coated in a white film and this seems to make the brine extra cloudy and unappealing looking.  Also seems to make it have way more scum on top of the whole lot. 

No real flavor issues with either of the above phenomena, but it's difficult to get other people who've never had a fermented pickle to eat something that just emerged from a literally scummy looking jar. 

Anyone tried dunking the leaves into boiling water before putting them in the crock?  I had this idea after last fall's mixed pickle crock got extra extra scummy. 

And, slightly off-topic but whatever I'll ask it anyway:  Seems to me that I get way more scum and other various mold issues now that I'm making ferments in the woods (comparing my experiences with urban fermentation).  Anyone else noticed this?

marina phillips wrote:
And, slightly off-topic but whatever I'll ask it anyway:  Seems to me that I get way more scum and other various mold issues now that I'm making ferments in the woods (comparing my experiences with urban fermentation).  Anyone else noticed this?

That is interesting.... the cure for it is to use a Picklemeister - 1 Gallon Glass Fermentation Jar, lots of places sell them under different names for $20 - in short they are a gallon glass jar with a fermentation one way valve built into the lid.  People swear it greatly enhances the flavors of pickles and fermented veggies because it blocks the spores flying around from getting into your mix.

Just something you may want to give a try now that your out in the woods.

I have no experience with grape leaves    sorry.

Oh cool, Jami, thanks for the link!  Gallon jars with airlocks - brilliant!! 

I feel like I could modify some existing gallon jar lids and make them into a DIY picklemeister!?  I don't know if the jar lids I have are all that airtight....dangit.  That is totally the solution though.  I have a few more months til pickle season is sincerely upon us again, anyway. 

I read where one person tried this -make their own, and it didn't work out at all.  The end result was worse than using the old method.

They used rubber gaskets and really spent the time and money to do it right.  They posted asking for advise, and everyone came to the same conclusion - making your own just isn't worth it 

I can see how my current lids probably couldn't be modified, but I don't really understand why it wouldn't work in a new plastic lid....but will probably end up trusting the tried and true stories of the internet.   

If you're going to buy a new jar with a new lid might as well pay the extra few bucks to get the airlock thing already attached, eh? 

Yea....  I searched and searched for just the lid, as I have lots of jars, but they won't sell it without the jar - for the same reason, lid and jar must have a great fit!  That's the secret, if there is one.

Have you tried the par-boiling yet?  You've got me wondering 

I'm going to try the par-boiling this year.  I will resurrect this thread when it happens!

Ya know, I think those german kraut crocks with the lid that sits in a bit of water would also work for pickles.  All you need is a one way air lock.  I want to come up with a way to modify regular crocks to get a similar effect.  Cause the scum is annoying to me. 

Think think think.....like pooh bear!

Stumbled on this old thread and I thought I'd add in my experience.

Made pickles for the first and realized that my favorite bought pickles use grape leaves. I picked a bunch of grape leaves so I could get one per jar. I just washed them up nicely and stuck them in.

No issues! Hindsight, I might want to do some more research before I potentially create issues in my pickle products but so far I'm lucky.

Quote:  If you're going to buy a new jar with a new lid might as well pay the extra few bucks to get the airlock thing already attached, eh?

I assume that you've got the airlock sorted by now,  but for anyone else wishing to try, an air lock device is readily available from places that sell stuff for the home brewer.  There is a "bulb" that gets filled with water, and any gasses escaping can be seen as bubbles passing through the water.  

Grape leaves?  I steam them and use as wrappers for dolmades - stuffed grape vine leaves - there's both a meat version and one that uses rice and currants. Completed rolls are then simmered in stock.  Often served with an egg and lemon sauce

I got a load of kiwis in the late fall, and prospects to get more, so I decided to ferment some. I read the same thing -- add a grape leaf to keep them "crispier" (maybe not the right adjective for kiwis but I was hoping for them at least to not turn to mush). They were great and you have to eat them fairly quickly.

For future batches, I harvested a bunch of the last nice grape leaves on my vines, stuffed them into a jar, filled the jar to the brim with spring water + 3.5% unrefined sea salt solution, put a little round of "oven paper" (like wax paper without the wax) on top of them, closed the jar, and let them do their thing. They bubbled a little bit for a while and have been just chilling on the shelf ever since, now I'm going on 3 months. I'm happy with the result so far. No blanching necessary. They seem pretty shelf stable for a ferment.

As far as my location, I'm in a windy, dense, small urban location but close to a river, 100m from managed forest, and more forested mountains all around - I probably don't have as many spores in the air as a homesteader in the middle of a natural forest, but I will have a decent number I would imagine.

When unititated guests come over and I want them to try my fermented treasures, I try to skim the mold off the top of everything before they arrive. Gotta be strategic you know.

I never blanched my grape leaves before adding to pickles.

I feel blanching might remove the tannin that make the pickles crisp.