My Adventures in Pickling

The Joy of Pickling

If you keep up with the blog you know for Mother's Day I got a Pickling Cookbook. You also know that I don't like things to go to waste (which unfortunately does happen sometimes). So, whenever I get a chance to preserve vegetables & fruits whether it be canning, freezing or dehydrating I'm all for it.

I'm very fortunate to have a husband who likes to have a garden every year. He starts getting seed catalogs in the winter & is in the greenhouse planting seeds in February. We also have some friends who are willing to share their bounty too.

Over the next few days I'm going to share some recipes that I have tried the past few weeks. Pickled Kohlrabi, Pink Pickled Turnips, Sweet Pickled Daikon, Bread & Butters My Way......is your mouth watering?

Most of the recipes require storing the jars in a cool, dry, dark place for several days to several weeks. So far we have eaten some of the Pickled Kohlrabi & it was pretty tasty. Tonight we can have some of the Pickled Sweet Daikon so look for an update on that tomorrow.

I was able to get several bundles of Daikon at the Farmer's Market on Saturday, WTF did not grow Daikon this year. Daikon is a Japanese white radish, it looks like a big white carrot. Daikon is not something I have cooked with but it is used in a lot of oriental type recipes & if I don't know how to use a vegetable I always put in in stir-fry!

Daikon

I chose the Sweet Pickled Daikon recipe (Page 123 in The Joy Of Pickling). I love the description in the cookbook, "The strong, rather foul odor of this Japanese pickle makes it especially fun to serve to friends. It taste much, much better than it smells."

Pickling Ingredients- rice vinegar, sugar & pickling salt


The recipe calls for the Daikon to be dried in the sun until limp (3-4 days) but it was noted by the author that this step can be skipped. Sun-drying is suppose to preserve the Daikon longer. I opted to skip this step.


Soon-to-Be Pickled Daikon


This recipe went good...no mishaps. But stay-tuned........


*****UPDATE******

We tried the Sweet Pickled Daikon...there is nothing sweet about it! There was a foul odor & it definitely left an aftertaste. To quote Lee, "yuck!"

It's definitely a conversation food........