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December 29, 2006
Pickles and Pickling
Derek likes things with sharp flavors -- tart things, sour things, pickled things. Especially pickled things. He goes on about the kind that have that extra fizziness, and he always eats my pickles at Souen.
When I read this article about Wheelhouse Pickles in Gothamist, I dropped everything and ordered some (I was in my pre-Christmas panic buying stage). I started with pickled green beans (a fave of D's), but then I saw the beets (I LOVE beets) and the special-of-the-month mystery pickle, and I had to pick up the pears mentioned in the article, so I ended up with four jars.
They arrived, I hid them in the Christmas Pile, and then I forgot all about them. I discovered them later, when I was thinking I didn't really have an exciting gift for D, and something dawned on me. I should give D a picking KIT. Not just pickles, but tools to enable actual PICKLING, so D will never be without a jar of some odd preserved vegetable.
I spent the Friday before Christmas doing nearly all my shopping on 7th Ave in Park Slope (yay! I think it's the first year I've avoided a last-minute trip to a Jersey mall, or even a trip to Soho or Macy's -- very happy about this.). In B&N, I was very happy to find a book called The Joy of Pickling (especially since the whole gift idea would have fallen apart without it), and at Tarzian, a salesperson was actually HELPFUL and located two pickling Ball jars for me.
I spoiled the surprise a little by asking D if we had a relative who might be interested in pickled pears (we don't), but D was pleased anyway. We have since tried the beets and beans (I ate all of the beets in one sitting), and they're wonderful. No pickling yet, but D has been reading the book and I'm dying to borrow it for some pickled beets, and then pickled eggs in beet juice.
Posted by csageday at December 29, 2006 08:18 PM
Comments
Ohh, pickled beets. Pickled eggs IN BEET JUICE. Pickled PEARS.
Mmmm. Want some company? Because I want to play!
Posted by: Rose at December 29, 2006 09:26 PM
Sure, we can have a pickle party. I'm curious about something, though -- I'm sure the pears would be fine on their own, but I wonder if they would work well WITH something. Not sure what, but perhaps some sort of meat?
Posted by: Cindy at December 29, 2006 11:56 PM