Pickle report, holiday edition
The holidays have been un-surprisingly themed with pickles. Many pickles were eaten, many pickle recipes were pondered, pickle-loving friends were made, and many pickle-related gifts were given.
The first gift from seyewailo was a huge 2-gallon glass jar that's perfect for a whole bunch of fat gherkin-style pickling cucumbers. I immediately transferred the two half-gallon jars of pickles-in-process to the new jar, and added the remaining gherkins from the fridge (when you send hhholiday to the store to get pickling cucumbers, or anything for that matter, unless you are very specific about an amount, her general philosophy is something like "the more the merrier," and so we had a LOT of cucumbers). I've been eating a pickle a day for a week now, and sharing them with my pickle-loving friends. The jar has a variety of sours and half sours now. I'm taking them to a party today. Homemade pickles make excellent party food.
Turns out homemade pickles also make new friends. I had posted on my facebook that the brussels sprouts were ready, and invited local folks to come over and try some. An acquaintance, MoJo, responded that she loved brussels sprouts, and was intrigued by the idea of pickled ones. So yesterday she came over, and new friendships were born! She and seyewailo and I had a lovely time munching on brussels sprouts, talking about food and projects and sewing and skills.
MoJo was also intrigued by the pickled lemons -- she and seyewailo both said they'd grown up eating salted lemons and that they were typical eating in mexico and central america. I couldn't really imagine eating them straight. I'd used them for cooking, made a rub for some roasted chicken, which was fantastic. So we each had a tiny bite, and it turns out they are good! Not even too salty, which shocked me. MoJo loved them so much she ate a whole quarter lemon in one bite! She was happy to discover that this food of her people was so easy to make, and she was planning to go home and make some right away. She also talked about curtido, the central american vinegar pickle she'd grown up eating, and the experience of being here and calling home to her mom because she was desperate for curtido.
I love seeing how pickles connect with ancestry. I started because I was yearning for a simple way to connect with my ancestors. What better way than through food? Beer was the one thing I could think of that all my people had in common. But given how little I drink, I needed something else. Sauerkraut is perfect, because if you want it to be good, you have to make it yourself. The process requires frequent engagement over a period of weeks -- plenty of time to experience the connection with this ancient process and my people of generations past.
Pickling is also one thing that all peoples of the world share. Every culture has used pickling as a way to preserve food. Techniques and recipes have a stunning variety, but the principle is the same. Flavors can differ regionally, even given the same recipe. Different temperatures favor different microorganisms, which then result in different flavors.
New things to try:
seyewailo was inspired by untrique to get me a pickle press. It has a spring that does the pressing down, in place of the water-filled glass jar I've been using as a weight. I can't wait to try it! She also got me some books about tsukemono and japanese pickling, and I've been reading about pickling in rice bran (instead of water). People make a "bed" of rice bran, feed it with bread and veggies, flavor it with spices, and then maintain and use this same bed for years, even generations. Wow. In our pickling so far, we might re-use brine a few times, but it gets so cloudy after a few batches that we toss it. Hmm.
Been also reading one book where all the pickle recipes contain whey. I guess that gets the process started more quickly. I'll try that sometime.
Ok, off to take my pickles to a party.
The first gift from seyewailo was a huge 2-gallon glass jar that's perfect for a whole bunch of fat gherkin-style pickling cucumbers. I immediately transferred the two half-gallon jars of pickles-in-process to the new jar, and added the remaining gherkins from the fridge (when you send hhholiday to the store to get pickling cucumbers, or anything for that matter, unless you are very specific about an amount, her general philosophy is something like "the more the merrier," and so we had a LOT of cucumbers). I've been eating a pickle a day for a week now, and sharing them with my pickle-loving friends. The jar has a variety of sours and half sours now. I'm taking them to a party today. Homemade pickles make excellent party food.
Turns out homemade pickles also make new friends. I had posted on my facebook that the brussels sprouts were ready, and invited local folks to come over and try some. An acquaintance, MoJo, responded that she loved brussels sprouts, and was intrigued by the idea of pickled ones. So yesterday she came over, and new friendships were born! She and seyewailo and I had a lovely time munching on brussels sprouts, talking about food and projects and sewing and skills.
MoJo was also intrigued by the pickled lemons -- she and seyewailo both said they'd grown up eating salted lemons and that they were typical eating in mexico and central america. I couldn't really imagine eating them straight. I'd used them for cooking, made a rub for some roasted chicken, which was fantastic. So we each had a tiny bite, and it turns out they are good! Not even too salty, which shocked me. MoJo loved them so much she ate a whole quarter lemon in one bite! She was happy to discover that this food of her people was so easy to make, and she was planning to go home and make some right away. She also talked about curtido, the central american vinegar pickle she'd grown up eating, and the experience of being here and calling home to her mom because she was desperate for curtido.
I love seeing how pickles connect with ancestry. I started because I was yearning for a simple way to connect with my ancestors. What better way than through food? Beer was the one thing I could think of that all my people had in common. But given how little I drink, I needed something else. Sauerkraut is perfect, because if you want it to be good, you have to make it yourself. The process requires frequent engagement over a period of weeks -- plenty of time to experience the connection with this ancient process and my people of generations past.
Pickling is also one thing that all peoples of the world share. Every culture has used pickling as a way to preserve food. Techniques and recipes have a stunning variety, but the principle is the same. Flavors can differ regionally, even given the same recipe. Different temperatures favor different microorganisms, which then result in different flavors.
New things to try:
seyewailo was inspired by untrique to get me a pickle press. It has a spring that does the pressing down, in place of the water-filled glass jar I've been using as a weight. I can't wait to try it! She also got me some books about tsukemono and japanese pickling, and I've been reading about pickling in rice bran (instead of water). People make a "bed" of rice bran, feed it with bread and veggies, flavor it with spices, and then maintain and use this same bed for years, even generations. Wow. In our pickling so far, we might re-use brine a few times, but it gets so cloudy after a few batches that we toss it. Hmm.
Been also reading one book where all the pickle recipes contain whey. I guess that gets the process started more quickly. I'll try that sometime.
Ok, off to take my pickles to a party.