[CH] follow-up on crispy pickles thread
Gary Allen (g_allen@culinary.edu)
Fri, 23 Mar 2001 16:37:08 -0500
Someone who knows much more about food science than I suggested that
alum and/or lime may interfere with the dissolution of pectin.
Pectin is what glues the cellulose in plant tissues together. It's
water soluble--which is why fruits and vegetables soften as they cook
(and why the liquid part of jams thicken as the fruit cooks--the
pectin migrates from the fruit to the sugar syrup). If alum or lime
"harden" the pectin (that is, make it more difficult to dissolve)
before the cooking /processing that would account for the crispness of
the pickles. It would also explain why the alum is used a rinse BEFORE
the pickling begions.
It's only a hypothesis, of course, but it sounds pretty good to
me...