Sourpuss

I am certainly no one to give weight-loss advice. While making a feeble attempt in that direction, however, I have rediscovered the snacking potential of the pickle, in all its variety, and the efficacy of the refrigerator pickle in particular.

It may be that not everyone sees pickles, as I do, as a guilty pleasure. I'm pretty sure I acquired this lucky mental quirk in childhood, because my mother doled out pickles as if they were, well candy, or something-tiny bits as a condiment only- no big juicy half sour dills to munch on until I was a college student, in charge of my own supplimental groceries. And I just love the sour side of the human taste apparatus, however it works.

If you make pickles as a preserving technique, you must be careful following established recipes and vinegar blends- because degrees of acidity can be the difference between pickles and damp, rotten veg in jars. Short term refrigerator pickles, however, can be messed with to our hearts' content, because the cold will keep them fresh, and we will eat them all up in short order, regardless. An additional bonus of superior crispness is included.

So, while I wait on the appearance of plums for my main preserving project of the summer, I'm thinking I'll go crazy with quick pickles, and try out some new ones. What you see here are pickled sugar snap peas. You will probably think that I am demented, since clearly fresh raw sugar snap peas cannot be bested. Also, they aren't half bad cooked simply. But the fact is, I went a little overboard at Costco- as I still tend to do- I'm so taken with the place, only recently opened nearby. It was perfectly arranged to unleash the greedy pig within me. so, I bought this huge bag of the stuff, having somehow forgotten, temporarily, that I am only one person, and that cats do not eat snow peas much.

I couldn't let my snowpeas go limp; something had to be done. These pickles are actually so good that I am going to make more on purpose. Changed around some from the original in epicurious , this recipe makes a quart of sugar-snap pickles.* My changes were that I used rice-wine vinegar, rather than the white, and Turkish roasted pepper flakes, instead of the whole dried peppers. Also, smaller jars. Make sure you let the liquid cool completely, before pouring it over the peas, and that you wait the full 2 weeks to open the jar(s).

Wednesday is my first CSA farmbox of the summer. I'm going to pickle a lot of that stuff, and then eat the results like potato chips.

*Please note that I have refrained from titling this post "Refrigerator Pickles are a Snap". I hope this will dissuade you from judging the actual title too harshly. At times the demon cornball within will not be denied.

Comments

[Chef JP]

Enjoyed your blog post. I love snacking on pickles as well. Sometimes I like to make pickled onions: heat some white vinegar, when it boils add a little white sugar, stir well and pour the vinegar mix over sliced red onions. Let this sit overnight and you have yourself a dandy snack! Chef JP

[Tanna]

Woo, snap peas, I like that!
And it's really funny but I just bought a big jar of pickles at Sam's. My husband and I have emptied the jar in 3 days they were just so good.

[Rebecca]

Mmm, these look great! I, too, saw those snow peas at Costco but couldn't imagine using all of them; now you've shown me how.

[Lynn D.]

This looks like just the ticket for the remains of the bag of broccolini that I bought at Costco. I think I'll make two jars and blanch the broc for one jar and leave the other raw and see which version I prefer. I'll let you know the results.

[lindy]

Chef JP- YES-love pickled red onions! they are great on top of fideos, or tacos, especially with some cubed avocado.
Tanna- a whole jar can disappear pretty quickly around here too. I am devoted to the garlicy kosher green tomato pickles by BaTumTa (I think that's the name-they are refrigerated in a glass jar).
Rebecca- I hope they are still there in big bags when I head back.
Lynn- That sounds very good. I didn't see any broccolini last time I was at Costco, or I'd have bought some. It comes in very small, very expensive packets at the regular supermarket here.

[Cari]

Pickles are my weight-loss strategy too! However, they're usually store-bought and not nearly so lovely. I've tried making dill cucumbers a couple times, once using the recipe from a book you recommended, Better Than Storebought. (That book has been a real boon! Making your own mustard is way cool.) Still, I can never seem to get the ratio of sour to sweet just right.

[anapestic]

I was having some friends over for brunch this weekend, and when I went to Costco, I bought an equivalent bag of sugar snap peas. They really are very good raw, but I wanted something a bit different, so I boiled them for 75 seconds, dumped them into iced water to keep the color, dried them thoroughly, and marinated them overnight in a simple vinaigrette. I think I will get another bag and make some pickles now.

[ann]

oh man, pickled peas and beans are some of my favorite foods in the entire world! my mom makes dilly beans to/die/for. I'll have to give this a go when the snap peas show up at the market. Thanks for the idea lindy! (btw, I think you should have gone with the original title. I love a good pun in the morning!)

[Lynn D.]

The broccolini pickles turned out great. Actually tomorrow is two weeks, but I ate some today. I also don't think it was broccolini, but thin stemmed regular old broccoli. I liked the blanced batch better; they were still very crunchy but seemed to absorb the flavors better.

[boon]

Great work, keep it up.....

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