The frost hasn't hit yet, but we can see it on the horizon. Mornings are crisp and cool, broccolini is sprouting, and pumpkins adorn doorsteps and dinner tables. After so very long, summer is well and truly over. As the contents of our shares (and plates!) change with the seasons, we use every tool and trick we have in the kitchen to carry our favorite flavors with us from one season to the next. Cucumbers may be behind us, but pickles? Pickles are never out of season!
Pickling, at its simplest, is preserving perishable food in a combination of brine and vinegar. It can extend the shelf-life of fresh food by months, easily tiding you over from one season to the next. Aside from the variety in contents, the herbs and spices chosen for any particular pickling endeavor provide a fabulous array of flavors. Dill is familiar and tasty, but don't be afraid to try ginger and turmeric, peppercorns, or mustard seeds. White vinegar may be the standard, but apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar are waiting to become your new favorite.
Pickles can be either "quick pickled", meaning stored in their brine in refrigeration, or the more experienced home canning chef can prepare them using fermentation. For a delicious dinner side or salad topping, the vinegar brine can be swapped out for a vinaigrette. What should you try first? The sky is the limit. If you can eat it, you can pickle it (for the most part). Nearly any fruit or vegetable will do; the truly adventurous even pickle meat and eggs. This season, the farm crew is pickling radishes, turnips, and eggplant while we snack on pickled cukes and green beans from the past few weeks.
My first thought with pickles is always the sliced dill pickles topping a hamburger, but these days I also snack on pickled veggies between meals, wrap them in naan bread with hummus, and toss them in pasta salad. Pickled radishes are and red onions are, for me, the grown up version of those those salty slices on my childhood burgers. I like a little sweetness with my tang, a little garlic and mustard mixed with apple cider vinegar. These bright flavors are bottled sunshine to winter days that can be dreary otherwise: a zesty reminder that the savory, starchy flavors of winter are here for just a short time.
Other Quick Pickled Veggies to Try
Enjoy the sour and the sweet of each season, Farm-ily!
Eat Well Today and Be Well Always,
Ashley, Collin, John, Lex, Rory, Nate, James, Alexandra, our teenage hogs, the feathered flock, and the furry one
