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There was a surplus of carrots in our vege-box this week. As we don’t have a juicer, pickling is the best option not to have them go to waste.
I found this pickled carrot recipe online to use as a guide: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/11/easy-pickled-carrots/
It is, as David Liebovitz (the author) suggests ‘easy.’
Thank you Mr. Liebovitz!
I used honey instead of sugar, and topped the jar with some olive oil to help seal the vegetable matter from oxygen.
The recipe yielded just over 2 500mL jars.
They’re tasty to eat straight away (but then they wouldn’t be very pickled. I’m looking forward to trying them in a week or two.
TASTE TEST A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER:
Though still nice and crunchy, the pickled carrots are super tangy. Tangy-ness can be reduced by substituting some verjuice for vinegar or soaking in water. I soaked some for 5mins then roasted them, it gave a very interesting flavour that went nicely in a cauliflower pilaf (with some sultanas & flaked almonds).
Latest Makeshift project – Making Time. It’s happening at Eveleigh Farmers’ Market over the next 2 Saturdays and we’d love to see you there for some preserving and jar swap goodness.
More ‘inspiration’ than ‘news’? In any case, I came across this book by Rohan Anderson via my partner, who is keen on ‘skilling-up’ and self-sufficiency. It has also become a favourite food/lifestyle-porn reference for a couple of other close (non-vego) pals. In terms of practicality, I expected it to have more diagrams re. the butchering of the spoils of a hunt, I guess if you’re going to learn to hunt then you learn from someone who already has experience hunting and butchering the kill. That said, there are still plenty of jar-able recipes in this book with some tasty looking jams and pickles. I’ll have to try the dill pickle recipe, a good one to have under my belt when familial Eastern European culinary expectations come knocking on my door.
Some inspiration for jar-swappers weary of jams and pickles.. cake in a jar!
I came across these creative folk – Grin Affair – in a tiny ground floor shop beneath a housing development in downtown Singapore. Dessert-type goodness comes layered in jars that can be either eaten on the spot or taken home (as long as you return the jars later). String carriers for 4 or more jars.. too cute!
Whilst using a wine-glass may seem like an elegant makeshift cookie-cutter option, it is really not a good idea.
After cutting a dozen cookies, the glass stem broke and went into my hand. A couple of stitches and sutures later the lesson that I have learnt: just buy another damned cookie cutter.
Pickling is usually done just before winter to preserve your vegetable surplus to last through the cold months. But I think pickles are good to have all year round.
We’ve been growing many types of radishes in our veggie patch in the Southern Highlands. Here I have used Black Spanish Long, Black Spanish Round, Icicle, and Hail Stone radishes.
I just used all the radishes I had from the garden so didn’t weigh them. I cut the larger radishes in half and left the small ones whole. You can keep the tops on if they are young, but I decided to cut them off to a short stem.
Recipe
200 grams white sugar
1 litre apple cider vinegar
1 litre water
1 dozen black peppercorns
4 bay leafs (1 for each jar)
1 small dried chilli
Sprinkle of fennel seeds
(You can use other spices if you like. This recipe is quite sweet so add some salt if you prefer).
Add all ingredients to a pot and simmer until sugar is dissolved.
Place radishes into sterilised jars and pour liquid and spices into jars. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the jars. Seal with a lid.
I didn’t quite have enough to fill the jars so there is a little extra room!
I’m looking forward to the Christmas break so I can snack on all the goodies we’ve been exchanging.
Meeting at object: Lucy’s pickled farm radish assortment, Bec’s spectacular olives, Fiona’s hot harissa, Kate’s rum-balls, and An’s consolation jars:dried coriander or mint from the herb garden.
Meeting at object: Lucy’s dandelion marmalade, Kate’s trail-mix, An’s lavender smudge-sticks.
This meeting was on November 16 2011. This is quite a belated post.
The heavy downpour of rain last week presented the perfect opportunity to harvest some worm wee (or worm juice to be polite) from our worm farm. Our worm farm is in fact a worm mansion towering four stories high!
We feed the worms all fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps except garlic, onion, and citrus. We also have a compost for leaves and other green matter. Worm wee is a great fertiliser.
Essentially, the rainwater filters through each layer and catches in the bottom container. Sometimes we leave the tap open with a bucket underneath when there is lots of rain so liquid can come straight out and the worms don’t drown.
To use worm wee all you have to do is dilute 1 part worm wee to 10 parts water. I usually use a 10L watering can which makes it easy to measure out. I’ve filled up some recycled 2L milk bottles to share with the group.
Today I have been bottling what I hope will be some delicious tangy Goan Eggplant Pickle. It’s a recipe I have made before and really enjoyed eating.
From a fragrant base of coconut & olive oil, ghee, mustard and fenugreek seeds, I added chilli, a few other spices and lots of organic eggplants. This gets fried off for a while, then some salt, sugar and malt vinegar get added to give that potent pickled goodness!
Something to note fellow jarries, is that you should leave these to age for around 3 weeks before you dig in. But keep the jar in the fridge for the whole time, whether its opened or not….
I like eating this with some homemade dahl, yoghurt, rice, and loads of coriander.
Here it is in the middle jar,alongside all the other things the group have made so far!
