Preppy Pickles

Chase is brewing beer again, and, not to be outdone, I decided I needed my own project involving culinary chemistry in glass containers. And I decided it was going to be pickling. Sure, my undertaking was on a smaller scale. While a six-gallon fermenter sat in the corner, on the other side of the kitchen I selected a clean and sturdy pint jar from the cupboard. The brewing took several hours of active labor and would take about a month and a half to become beer, but the pickles were supposed to be ready the next day, if not sooner. Ok fine, we were working on entirely different magnitudes. I was still going to make pickles.

I had tried pickling once before, with an intriguing cinnamon-infused red grape pickle. It had a complex flavor that was great as a sweet-and-sour addition to salads. But I figured it was time to try a savory pickle, and with an over-abundance of baby radishes in the fridge, radish pickles it was. I also threw in a few carrot sticks to see what would happen to them.

Preparing the brine, pouring it over the vegetables in the jar, and sticking it in the fridge was simple enough and came with no surprises. I fished the jar out of the fridge about a day and a half later to see the results. It seems that pickling inevitably makes things become somewhat less attractive, perhaps in solidarity with the wizened women who stereotypically make them. The radishes had shriveled slightly and leached the ruby pigment of their skins into the brine, leaving them a pale pink. But they tasted great. The salty tang was a nice counter to the spiciness of raw radish.

Even though it was gray and drizzly outside, the fact that it was warm enough to replace my winter jacket with a sweatshirt made me feel particularly Springy, and I liked that color of the pickles matched the tulips at the flower stall down the street. With minced pink and orange pickles, bits of pale green celery, and a spoonful of yellow mustard, the tuna salad I made for lunch looked like something from a J. Crew catalog. But much less expensive.

Preppy Pickles

1 ¼ cups water

1 cup white vinegar

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ tablespoon salt

1 ½ tablespoon pickling spice mix (from Sahadi’s)

Baby radishes (with slits cut into the tops of the larger ones) and carrot strips

Place the vegetables in a glass jar and combine the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for two minutes. Pour brine into the jar and allow to cool. Place in the refrigerator for about a day.