Ronnell Rosenthal

Joseph: Thank you for the reply. That's valuable information, for sure. I was under the impression that the salt was a working element. But it does raise another question. Would you happen to know how much the vinegar can be diluted and still continue to be effective for preservation? In your recipe you are showing a 5:3 ratio of vinegar to water, and I'm wondering if I wanted a less sour pickle, could I lower the vinegar content and still expect a safe product? And would hot bath canning compensate for the lowered acid content of the brine?

To your question about measurements; I'm American, and I personally would prefer to see recipe measurements using the metric system. It's far more precise, and particularly with baking, yields far better results. As a chef, I use grams as the primary unit when writing recipes.
As to the question about what I look for in a cookbook: I like a cookbook to be educational as well as informational. Meaning I don't care for a book full of recipes. I tend to read them like novels, and i want to constantly expand myself professionally, so a book that offers a new way of thinking about food is fantastic. My all time favorite cookbook is "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat. I learned more from that book than I did in all my time in culinary school.
 I wish you the best with your book.

I'm brand new to pickling and canning food, so I've been all over the internet looking at recipes. Something struck me as seeming a little strange, that being that there seems to be allot of variance in the recipes. More specifically, in the brines themselves. From what I understand, aside from the sealing process, the salt and acid in a pickling brine are creating an unfriendly environment for bacterial growth. So it seems to me that from a scientific aspect, there would be some type of formula or ratio that looks like: parts salt/parts vinegar/parts acid, by weight or volume, that outlines the minimums for safely pickled vegetables.
 So, I guess my question is just that. Is there a ratio or formula for a basic pickling brine? Like a good foundation upon which I can build my own recipes? For the sake of this post, I'm not particularly concerned about seasonings, just the functional elements of the brine.
 And a quick side question. What part, if any, do sugars (honey, processed sugar, molasses,etc.) play in the functionality of a pickling brine?
 This is my first post on this website, so I'd like to thank everyone for having me. I look forward to plaguing ya'll with my newbie questions.