Theresa's Pickled Eggplant 

Theresa demonstrates her classic Pickled Eggplant recipe. It's sure to please...
FRIENDLY WARNING: We've learned the hard way that the vinegar used in pickling solutions must be a minimum of 5% acidity (according to our internet research).
DETAILS: We had the problem of a batch going bad recently. That had never happened before. We do not claim to be canning experts by any means. After researching on the internet we discovered that the problem may have been that we (unknowingly) used vinegar that was 4% acidity instead of the minimum required 5% acidity for pickling solutions. When we bought our gallon jug of white vinegar we assumed it was the same as always. Further, we talked to our local grocer and discovered that when their distributor ran out of the regular brand they would substitute another brand in it's place. Our grocer wasn't even aware that this decrease in quality was happening. And that's how we confirmed using the 4% acidity (we still had the "substitute" jug of vinegar and in tiny print on the label it said 4%). It doesn't seem like a big difference (4% vs 5%) but apparently it is when it comes to pickling! So please be careful and save yourself some heartache!