a pickling party

Thank you. Thank you to all of you who left such kind and thoughtful comments about my last post, Light in the Darkness. Some small part of the sadness for Jennie lifted, a bit, after writing that piece, and quite a bit more after reading your comments. Once again, I’m reminded: it’s all about love.

And community.

(To my astonishment, Jennie was able to put up a powerful post about Mikey. She’s also asking all of us to make his favorite pie — peanut butter cream pie — in his honor on Friday. The recipe is in her post. We don’t want to miss the chance to make our loved ones happy. As Jennie wrote, “Then hug them like there’s no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on.”)

Today, I had the chance to be part of another community, a group of people working hard to make food for their families. More than 300 people took up the challenge to pickle.

I wish that I had the energy to tell you more about why I love pickling. How it uses the vegetables from the CSA we get every week that we just can’t sauté or roast fast enough. How the briny tastes make us all scrunch up our faces and dig in for more. How pickled things make Lucy happy, and Danny and me too. How something pickled can turn a simple salad or quinoa and vegetables into something exotic and endlessly interesting.

Instead, I’m going to let you have the pleasure I have experienced today by reading these posts. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you pickles.

Asparagus

Pickled Asparagus from The Runaway Spoon

Pickled and Peppered Asparagus from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles

Beans

Pickled Green Beans from Simple Bites

Pickled Green Beans from Sophisticated Palette

Schezuan Pickled Beans from Nomnivorous

Spicy Coriander Pickled Green Beans from Gabby’s Gluten-Free

Spicy Curry Pickled Beans from Recipe Relay

Beets

Five-Spice Beets from Cooking with Books

Pickled Beets and Pickled Beet Eggs from Neighborhood Foodie

Pickled Chiogga Beets from Backseat Gourmet

Carrots

Do Chua from No Re Eats

Giardiniera from Shutterbean

Quick Pickled Carrots from Victoria

Spicy Pickled Carrots from Piccante Dolce

Cauliflower

Columbian-style Pickled Vegetables from Poor Girl Eats Well

Piccallili from Gluten-free[k]

Chayote

Pickled Chayote Slaw from Flamingo Musings

Cherries

Sweet and Spicy Pickled Cherries from The Colors of Indian Cooking

Cucumbers

Bread and Butter Pickle Relish from My Kitchen Addiction

Dill Pickles with Garlic from 107 Cookbooks

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s Garlic Dill Pickles from Andrea’s Recipes

Easy Asian Pickles from Harmonious Grub

Fridge Pickles from Gluten-Free Travelette

Garlic Dill Pickles from Healthy Green Kitchen

Garlic Dill Sun Pickles from Out of the Box Food

Japanese Pickled Cucumbers from Dash of East

Quick Garlic Dill Pickles from Comfy Cuisine

Sweet and Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles from Johnna52

Garlic

French Pickled Garlic from Food + Words

Garlic Scapes

Pickled Garlic Scapes from Healthy Life Happy Cook

Jalapenos

Jalapeno Relish from Summer in Southern Illinois

Pickled Jalapenos from Hungry Girl Por Vida

Leek Scapes

Asian Pickled Leek Scapes from A Baking Life

Nectarines

Asian Pickled Nectarines from Joanna Organic Chef and Health Enthusiast

Onions

Pickled Red Onions from Food Embrace

Pickled Red Onions and Carrot Relish from Just a Taste

Peaches

Pickled Peach Salad from Running with Tweezers

Radishes

Pickled Radishes from I Make Pickles

Tomatilloes

Pickled Tomatillos from Blue Kale Road

Tomatoes

Pickled Farmstand Tomatoes from Soepkipje

Pickled Tomatoes (and other preserving methods) from Food in Jars

Red Wine Vinegar Heirloom Green Tomato Pickles from Food Wanderings

Watermelons

Watermelon Pickles from At Home with Rebecka

Plus, I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch. Go on over to Punk Domestics, where all the pickle posts are archived so well.

PICKLED CARROTS

These happened today because I looked up at Danny about an hour before we were going to leave the house and said, “Damn it. We  haven’t pickled anything yet.”

Oh, we pickle every couple of days. The photographs you see above are from pickled beets and cucumbers that have come from our kitchen in the last week. But we didn’t pickle anything for the pickle party in particular.

I looked at the baby yellow and orange carrots on our counter, spilled there when we took apart the bag from our farmer. “These,” I said to Danny. “Let’s pickle these.”

9 ounces carrots, peeled
1 ½ cups champagne vinegar (you can replace this with white vinegar)
1 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole peppercorns
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 small nub ginger, peeled

Making the brine. Combine the vinegar, water, salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, and ginger in a larg pot. Bring the liquids to a boil. Turn off the heat.

Filling the jars. Put the carrots into 2 pint jars. Cover the carrots with the pickling liquid and screw on the lid.

Waiting. Allow the jars to sit for at least 3 days before eating the pickles. Eat within 1 month of opening.
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31 comments on “a pickling party”

  2. Elizabeth

    We haven’t pickled yet this summer, but last summer, we fell in love with overnight pickles. We cut cucumbers, added some vinegar and spices, and left them on the counter overnight. They were lightly pickled by lunchtime. We did this day after day after day last year.

    We’ve got to get pickling again!

  6. Nicola

    Wow. Is that really all there is to pickling? Why have I never done this before? I have 15 minutes and all the ingredients to do this, today. The only problem will be in waiting 3 days to eat them! Thank you so much for the inspiration and motivation.

  8. Emily | Nomnivorous

    Shauna, thanks for sharing my schezuan beans! And thank you for bringing together such amazing people and pickles in one place. You inspired me to teach a class on pickling next week, my first time teaching!

  9. MrsVJW

    I’m taking a class at the end of August on “canned” pickles. I can’t wait to be able to come back to this list of recipes and stock my pantry with all kinds of pickle goodness!

  10. Johnna

    Thank you so much for putting together another fun party! Last month I shared pie with friends, taught a few how to make pie. This month, it was my turn to learn. I appreciate these parties. They are building community, friendships, through food. There’s love in those pickles!

  12. Melissa @ Dash of East

    This is so much fun Shauna! It was my first time pickling and I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I will be doing much more pickling in the future. I believe some watermelon rinds are on the near horizon :) And thank you for sharing my post on Japanese pickled cucumbers!

  13. Hannah

    I love these parties you are hosting! Thank you for bringing everyone together over pies and pickles. It’s wonderful to share the food love! I look forward to what’s next…apples? pumpkins? It’s all good! I’ve already saved a number of pickle recipes that I can’t wait to try. Thank you for sharing my post on pickled tomatillos.

  15. Chris

    Shauna,
    I am new to your venue but you always me smile. Even Jennie’s post, because of the outpouring of love. Keep doing what you doing, It’s good for you, it’s good for us, and it’s good for the universe. Like energy is attracted to itself, all those positives you keep putting out are finding other positives and just hanging out, getting stronger all time. Well done, keep it up, please.…..

  17. meg

    Pickled carrots have become an obsession of mine this year. I started with Molly Wizenberg’s pickled baby carrot recipe and have tailored it to our tastes. You really can’t beat a pickled carrot for crunch.
    There’s really something comforting about putting up food. It’s security, sure, but that’s only the superficial benefit. The ritual, the process is soothing. And seeing all those jars lined up in the pantry is a constant reminder of that. What a perfect way to heal and reflect. This is a great follow-up to your last post.

  18. KK @ Preppy Pink Crocodile

    I made pickled watermelon rind but for the life of me couldn’t get the Facebook party page to let me link up.

    I also figured out a fun drink recipe using the syrup too that I noted at the end of the post. Mmmm!

    Can’t wait to read and try lots of new pickle recipes!

    KK

  20. Patti

    Hi Shauna! I wanted to thank you for sharing my Quick Garlic Dill Pickles! Everything looks fabulous! I’ll be seeing you on Facebook!

  21. Amy Stephenson

    Shauna, thanks for including a link to my blog! I’m glad you organized this; it would have been all too easy for me to make excuses to put this off, and while I might have accomplished something else on my list this week, I wouldn’t have that beautiful array of jars promising tasty pickles this fall and winter.

    One of the great things about cooking is that it requires you to be fully present. That’s a gift.

  23. Marissa

    Excellent!! This post came at the perfect time.…I am literally up to my ears in green beans and padron peppers from my CSA. I do not have the stomach space to fit it all in over the next week. Can’t wait to try this pickling thing for the first time!! :) Thanks for sharing.

    1. Marissa

      Wheeee!! I just finished pickling beets, green beans, padron peppers, and cucumbers!! It was SO easy!. All these recipes and this post pushed me just enough to get over my so called fear of pickling! :)

  26. Sarah @ RecipeRelay

    Thanks for putting up the roundup and for including our Curry Pickled Beans! Yesterday I pickled zucchini, lemon cucumbers and some green garlic that has been sitting in the fridge in a spicy, peppery concoction of apple cider vinegar, red pepper flakes, peppercorns, bay leaf and fresh dill.

  27. Catherine Brooke Barrows

    I love interesting spice combinations, creative uses for food and pickled goods so much I left my lucrative job last year as a Belgian brewery rep to start TabbyCat Pickling Co. here in Seattle.
    One of my favorite styles of beer the Belgians make are called Saison’s– that literally translates to “season”. These are one of my favorite beers because every one is very different, farmers take whatever is on hand at their respective farms and put them up in autumn or winter to be enjoyed during the late summer harvest. If the beer was put up in early spring, they would often be blended with the previous autumn brew to make sure it had a nice refreshing acidity to it. Because of the lack of potable water, these low alcohol and interesting flavored brews would primarily be used to hydrate and refresh the farm hands during harvest. Belgian brewer’s are extremely creative and use a variety of spices, herbs and techniques such as wood aging to create their brews. Thus, no two farm brews are alike and nothing is off the table in terms of playing with combinations and techniques– just like PICKLING! May I suggest to those interested in great ales, that when you are ready to crack open your unique pickled goods, suss out some interesting Belgian brews like Saisons, Lambics, Guezes and Trippels and Dubbels. You will be so amazed at how the dry Geuzes and sour lambics pair to well with your pickles and various other creations. Grab some cheeses with various consistencies and flavor profiles and try them all together– you are sure to stumble across a combination that will tickle your pickled tastebuds! Wine is a fun liquid to pair with too but since I am an ale girl, I will let the vino-maidens share that with you.
    Happy Pickling all!
    Catherine– “Pickle Packin’ Mama!”

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