Making Pickles With Plastic Food Storage Bags......can Do?

[jaideeguy]

Google hasn't confirmed if I can use the heavy duty plastic food storage bags to make small batches of cucumber pickles. all recipes use glass jars and canning equipment, but logic tells me that if I use sanitary conditions and proper amounts of vinegar and/or brine and new hot/cold plastic bags, there shouldn't be any contamination, especially if stored in the fridge.

Has anyone done it with plastic food grade bags???

[kennalder]

I don't even like to drink water from plastic bottles, especially the thin clear ones that you get at the store. Chemicals like BPA leach from them especially as the temperature goes up. Add vinegar and acidic foods and no telling what might happen. I'd suggest sticking to glass. That's all I use for the kefir and yogurt I make. Same for a friend of mine that makes sauerkraut.

[NorfolkBoy]

I have used heavy duty plastic storage JARS to make dill pickles with success. They have kept in the fridge ok for several months

[Theboy]

May we ask why when glass is readily available and cheap ?

[jaideeguy]

As to using the 'hot/cold' heavy duty plastic bags to brine for pickles, I've seen them used for almost every food item here in LOS and I use them regularly for brining my meat for smoking because of their ease of use, less space needed in fridge and sterility and it says on the label that they are good for temps up to 95c. Noodle vendors use them with boiling soup broth. Please convince me with facts that they are harmful.

Even the lowly ziploc bag is used extensively for that purpose and the local bags seem a lot more heavy duty and cheaper.

[JDGRUEN]

With most plastic bags you will need to let the liquid cool first and store the pickles in the refrigerator ... otherwise it should work... Getting the pickling recipe correct and done correctly is the biggest challenge

[Michaelaway]

May we ask why when glass is readily available and cheap ?

I've bought 2 pickle jars at the big shop behind Big C North. They're kind of glass crocks, about 12 inches tall by six inches wide, with mason jar-like rubber gaskets & clamping tops; maybe a gallon size(?). Under 200 baht per jar.

[StefanBBK]

It works, no problem.

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[kennalder]

For those in Chiang Mai. Several months ago someone started a probiotics group. It went well for a few weeks then the founder left the country and it fell apart. One of the things discussed in those early meetings was the use of glass, metals and plastics. I don't know how accurate the opinions were, but they were universally for the use of glass only unless contact was for a brief period of time for example using a metal sieve. The general rule seemed to be the more acidic the food, the higher the need to stick to glass. Yogurt was thought to be okay in plastic, but kefir was not. BTW, I would like to restart the meetings and I will be holding a meeting at my house in Sansai this coming Saturday, Feb. 9th. If anyone is interested let me know and I will send you the coordinates and some landmarks to look for. I will have some raw milk kefir and yogurt to sample along with some coconut water kefir. And yes it is raw milk. I watch it come out of the cows, through the plastic tubes into the milk pails, weighed and into a plastic bag for transport home. 30 minutes from udder to my fridge.

[Thailaw]

As to using the 'hot/cold' heavy duty plastic bags to brine for pickles, I've seen them used for almost every food item here in LOS and I use them regularly for brining my meat for smoking because of their ease of use, less space needed in fridge and sterility and it says on the label that they are good for temps up to 95c. Noodle vendors use them with boiling soup broth. Please convince me with facts that they are harmful.

Even the lowly ziploc bag is used extensively for that purpose and the local bags seem a lot more heavy duty and cheaper.

You're fine using "food quality" plastic bags. From the Clemson University Cooperative Extension website:

"Pickles and sauerkraut can be fermented in large stoneware crocks, large glass jars or food-grade plastic containers. If you are not sure whether a plastic container is safe for food, read its label or contact its manufacturer. Another option is to line the questionable container with several thicknesses of food-grade plastic bags. Do not use aluminum, copper, brass, galvanized or iron containers for fermenting pickles or sauerkraut."

I am not sure about the locally made plastic bags, and if they contain impurities that could affect taste, but they are probably fine. Macro sells 1 liter, 1.5 liter and 2 liter heavy glass jars with rubber gaskets and locking glass or ceramic lids. They sell for about B59 to B75 each, and the 1 or .5 liter jars fit easily 4 or 5 across in the back of my refrigerator. Once purchased, the jars, including the gaskets, seem to last indefinitely, so they are really a very cheap option. They are much easier and more convenient, I think, than having rather heavy, liquid filled plastic bags in the fridge that can leak, tear or break, and are ideal for making and storing pickles in the fridge. But, to each his/her own, and, of course, YMMV.