Fall is the season for canning and pickling
To our community:
Even though the summer days are over and we are back to school, the market is as busy as ever. We are enjoying the abundance of produce, nice weather, and a few more weeks of music bands joining us. This is the prime season for canning and pickling, to preserve the vitamins and prepare for the long winter months ahead of us.
Canning requires some preparation and commitment. Some people even go as far as meal prepping for the busy lifestyle, but food safety is to be taken very seriously when you attempt to make fatty or protein products like meats shelf-stable. When you decide to venture out into canning, we suggest starting with high-acidity recipes like pickles, juices, or jams. These recipes are stable and do not require complex equipment and can be done with the water bath method. Canning is a great way to cut food waste, preserve some of the rich nutrition of the season, and save some money!
If canning is not your forte, but you enjoy an occasional pickle, we suggest looking into “quickling”. This process requires very little time to transform virtually any vegetable into a new food category. With only a few ingredients, you can have a great addition to your salads, sandwiches, a side dish, or simply a snack.
Here is a 5-ingredient quick pickle that will change the way you pickle!
Ingredients
- 3 lb of small pickling cucumbers
- 32 oz of boiling water
- 2 heaping tablespoons of salt
- 6-7 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
- Flowers and stems of dill
Directions
- Prep the cucumbers by washing them and trimming the ends. Pack the cucumbers, dill, and garlic tightly in layers in a glass jar.
- Mix salt in boiling water and pour over the cucumbers.
- Once cooled, place in the fridge overnight. Voila!
- Keep refrigerated and enjoy with a meal or as a snack any time of the day!
This same recipe can also be used to ferment cucumbers to give them a rich depth of flavor. Keep covered at room temperature for three days, and then transfer into the refrigerator. Fermentation is a different process that produces good bacteria and sours the vegetable but at the same time produces a unique taste and texture.
