Spring Carrot Pickles
Apr 3rd, 2008 | By Hank Shaw | Category: pickles, Recipe, The Garden | Comments | 3 Comments |
Pickling is not solely the province of sweltering August kitchens. I have slowly begun to put up produce in every season, and I am finding that springtime is a particularly good time for pickles.
Instead of suffering in the summer’s heat, with sweat flavoring your brine and forcing yourself up early in the morning to beat what will likely be yet another 100-degree day, pickling in spring means you can turn the heat down in the house, open the windows and enjoy the steamy warmth of the stove properly.
Springtime is also the perfect time to experiment with natural pickles. I have eaten naturally fermented pickles all my life — they are a specialty of the Jewish delis I used to eat at back home — but I never knew how to make them until I read Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s “Charcuterie.” The key is the proper ratio of salt to water and cool temperatures: Hotter than 70 degrees or so and you enter the danger zone.
What do you pickle in the spring? Lots of things. I never got around to doing my usual beets in balsamic, but there’s still a little time if I get off the dime on that one. Other good candidates are carrots, fennel, cabbages, turnips — or any other root vegetable you happen to have lurking silently in your garden.
Why bother pickling in springtime? Because spring’s warmth is as dangerous to your root veggies as autumn’s frost is for your summer vegetables. When the weather warms and the sun climbs higher, your lovely winter’s garden bolts into bloom — ruining its eating quality.
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OLD-STYLE PICKLED CARROTS without VINEGAR
Photo by Hank Shaw
Pickles without vinegar? Blasphemy, right? Wrong. Where I grew up, Jewish delis had big crocks of brined pickles that are still the best pickles I have ever eaten. No vinegar, just a strong brine — it keeps the cukes green and, while salty, I find I can eat far more of these pickles than vinegared ones. Plus you can eat them while drinking wine, something impossible with vinegar pickles.
And that tang? Oh, it’s fermentation. Yep. These are fermented pickles. Don’t be scared. They’re easy. This is how I do it with pickles. If you want a nice, basic natural pickle recipe, you could do worse that pick up Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. This recipe is adapted from theirs.
Makes 1 quart
Prep Time: 3 days
- 2 pounds small carrots, peeled
- 4 cups water
- 3 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 dried hot chile
- 1 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
- Cut the carrots into discs the size you would want to eat at a cocktail party. Or leave them whole.
- Boil the salt, water, bay leaves and chile for a minute or so, then turn off the heat and let this cool to room temperature.
- Pack the carrots and the thyme sprig into a clean Mason jar and pour the brine over them.
- You will have leftover brine. Pour this into a plastic bag and tie it off. Push the bag into the jar — you want the carrots to be completely submerged in the brine. If they hit air while fermenting, you get mold.
- Put the jar into a cool, dark place for 3-4 days. What’s cool? Cooler than 65 degrees. Like many things that ferment, 55 degrees is about perfect. You can leave the carrots in longer if you want — they will be saltier and tangier.
- Remove the bag and pour the brine into a clean pot and boil it. When it is cool, pour it back into the jar and seal it up. This is a precautionary in case any bad bugs were thinking about getting active during the fermentation.
- Sealed and kept cold (below 50 degrees), these pickles will last a long, long time in the fridge.
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Well, how jealous am I of thus fennel surfeit? In my opinion fennel is one of the great under-rated vegetables. I like cooking it down to the point it becomes pure flavor and eating it over pasta with a little lemon zest and chopped fronds. Sadly, our season is pretty short.
And I love the idea of putting up spring pickles. The crop selection is just right for Asian food.
Oh my, I do think I need to try this pickle. Sounds delish!
About boiling the brine after fermentation: don’t be scared! So long as you keep the vegetables below the surface of the brine, and you have the proper salinity level, the “good” bacteria (lactobacillus and others) will crowd out any opportunity for other “bad bugs” to get a foothold. The beneficial bacteria present in the brine are an unparalleled digestive tonic and boiling the brine would kill all the fermented goodness, thus negating the very best part about fermentation: the health benefits.