Method: Pickling

I usually start the week with an ingredient, but after a recent pickling pursuit I felt compelled to share! Our CSA boxes are getting bigger and bigger! It's great, but it also means either some really strange meals to use up all of the veggies or finding a way to preserve them. So on a tip from several fellow Cooking Away My CSA-ers, I decided to try my hand at refrigerator pickles. I didn't want to monkey around with the whole canning process. This method was fast, easy, little clean-up and I'll be able to try my pickles in just a week (if I can last that long).



I used a brine recipe from David Lebovitz. It's a very versatile little brine, too. Once you've got the basics down you can improvise 'til your heart is content. Basically it is equal parts water to vinegar with some sugar, salt and seasonings thrown in. That's where you can go wild!




Originally used to pickle jalepenos, I used it to pickle green beans (with a hot pepper thrown in), zucchini, red cabbage and cucumbers.





Here is David's basic recipe, and I'll let you know how they turned out soon!