Vegetable Pickles
After the great sauerkraut triumph of February, I’m continuing with the fermentation while conditions are good. I don’t know if it’s the right temperature in my house, or if we happen to have some good yeast floating around, but I’m striking while this iron is hot.
We’ve got a big container of the kraut left, but I want a different texture: crunchier, good for snacking, tasty in salads or sandwiches. For the past few weeks I’ve been trying some simple vegetable sticks. I went for turnips first, for no reasons that make sense. Maybe I chose them because they looked pretty in the store?
I hated these things as a kid. My family loved to use them to spoil otherwise blameless mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. You’d think you were going to get a mouthful of delicious potato goodness, and then BAM! mouthful of turnips mixed with potatoes. The only human use I ever found for a turnip (as opposed to livestock, which apparently like them just fine) is pickled, in a shawarma. Since I don’t have ready access to shawarmas at the moment, I can’t tell you why I needed a jar of pickled turnips in my fridge. Like Proust with his madeleines (which are seriously bland, dry, not so great cookies, and yet evoked an irresistible memory), I just had a feeling.
Pickled Vegetable Sticks
Ingredients
- 4 whole turnips
- non-iodized salt
- spice optional
Instructions
- Scrub and then peel the vegetables. Slice into snack size sticks, and pack into a clean jar. I used wide-mouth mason jars.Pour water into the jar to cover vegetables. There should be a measurable amount of liquid over the top of the vegetables. Then pour the water from the jar into a measuring cup, being careful to keep the veggies in the jar. Create a brine with the proportions of 3/4 tbsp salt to 1 cup of water. Remember there are 4 tsps to 1 tbsp. Pour the brine back into the veggie jar. You may want to add some spices, whatever appeals to you. If needed, weight the vegetables to keep them submerged.Cover the jar with cheesecloth or something similar to keep out the dust, and put the covered jar in a cool, dark place for a few days. Check every day for bubbles and good smells. When fermentation starts, you can replace the cloth with an actual top. If you use a regular canning top, make sure to release the gasses every day. Start tasting the vegetables around the 4th day or so. When you are satisfied with the flavor, move your pickles to the fridge to slow the fermentation.
My turnips, peeled, sliced, and stuffed into a jar. I added some coriander seeds, garlic, and annato for color. I think I’d like some hot pepper in there too, next time.
And here they are four days later. When I saw they had started to get some little bubbles on the surface, I put a top on them and closed them up. This little video shows what happens when I loosened the cap to release the gas. This is an important step, because no matter how much you love delicious, tangy, funky pickles, your life won’t be better if they explode all over your house. Make sure you manage your gas carefully. Heh.
Oh, and try some other vegetables! I don’t know how much we’ll use these turnips, as opposed to looking at them and remembering shawarmas past, but I also put up a jar of carrots (with ginger and garlic). While carrots carry no special memories for me, I know we’ll eat them.
