Oven Pickle Canning

I know, I JUST posted a few minutes ago, but oven canning is cool enough to deserve its own subject heading.

A friend came over this weekend and taught me how to make Senfgurken in the oven. Okay, for the non-German speakers, that's Mustard Pickles. Basically, they're like any other pickles, but instead of putting in the dill you just add more mustard seeds. They have a nice taste, not too sour or sweet, and they're dead easy. I happen to like dill pickles, so I'll be experimenting with the recipe to see if I can get dill pickles the same way.

Oven Mustard Pickles
1 liter water
1 liter vinegar
4 TBSP salt
5 TBSP sugar

Mix all in a bowl and set aside. Sanitize as many jars as you want pickles. Cut cucumbers into slices. Stuff jars with cucumbers, fill jars with cold brine to 1/2 inch headspace, dump "a bunch" of mustard seeds on top of each jar (maybe 2 TBSP?), wipe rims, put tops on jars, and place in the oven. Place a water filled pie tin or other water holding device in the oven in the bottom rack.

Turn on the oven to 275. That's right, start with a cold oven. Set the timer for 45 minutes from the time you put the pickles in the oven, not when it reaches 275. Turn the oven off in 45 minutes but allow the oven to completely cool before opening the oven, at least 3 hours, if not overnight. When you open the oven, tighten the lids again, but you'll notice that they're sealed. My friend's grandmother uses old jelly jars instead of modern canning stuff and apparently they seal this way too (but I'm not that brave).

I'm wondering if this will work with salsas and tomato sauce, or a variety of other typically water-bath canning foods. More experimenting is necessary. What's pretty nice is that you can do a whole bunch at one time (as many as fit in an oven), and if it works the same for all foods, you could probably do a few different foods at the same time.

My friend also convinced me to ferment grape leaves for Domas, so I'll let you know how that goes in a few days. They keep floating, so we'll see...