Tarantula hawk. For the psychedelic rock band, see Tarantula Hawk (band). A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp that hunts tarantulas. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis, in the family Pompilidae (spider wasps).
Ditch the prefab pickling spice and make your own. And try a 5 percent salt solution per pound of cucumbers (full recipe below). In addition to reverse-engineering Grandma Minnie's recipe, McClellan offers these tips for getting crisp pickles: 1. Trim the ends off the cucumbers before you pack them into jars. Depending on how well you've washed your cucumbers, there can also be an enzyme in the blossom end of a cucumber that can lead to softening, and nobody wants a soft pickle, she says. 2. Try certain leaves.
Reviewed 2014 by Deb Botzek-Linn, Extension Educator â Food Safety. Vinegar is the preservative and flavoring agent in most pickles. What kind you use depends on the color and flavor you want to have in the pickled product.Most pickle recipes call for distilled white vinegar.o not use wine vinegars or other flavored vinegars when you make pickles, unless you are sure of their acetic acid content. Do not use homemade vinegar when you make pickles because the acetic acid content is unknown and variable.