Every year the excitement runs high for the first vegetables from our CSA box. But after a few installments of this amazing bounty, reality sets in — we can’t possibly eat all these beets or cucumbers. And look at this head of cabbage — it’s the size of a bowling ball. So this year I decided to look into pickling, as practiced by my forebears. German settlers would pack barrels full of sauerkraut into the barn and eat it all winter. But there is more to pickling than sauerkraut.
And so I pass these pickling recipes, handed down by my family, on to you. There are only a few requirements: a stove, a food processor, a cloth bag for spices and a set of mason jars. It may take a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday morning, but it’s not complicated, and it will pay off at the table.
Simple dill pickles
35-40 3-4-inch cucumbers
3 tablespoons mixed spices (any or all of the following, ground or crushed: ginger, aniseed, caraway seed, cardamom seed, celery seed, fennel seed, juniper berries, cloves, coriander seed, ginger, mint, turmeric, nutmeg seed)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
4 cups vinegar
4 cups water
green dill
Wash cucumbers thoroughly. Dry and cut into halves lengthwise. Put head of dill into each hot, sterilized jar. Pack cucumbers. Tie spices into bag and let simmer in water with sugar, salt and vinegar for 15 minutes. Then bring brine to boil and pour over pickles. Cover pickles with dill. Seal and store in cool place for 4 weeks to ripen.
Pickled beets
3 1/2 pounds of beets
1 cup liquid from cooking beets
1/2 pound onions, sliced
2 cups white vinegar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons salt
Spice bag: 6 whole cloves
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
Remove beet tops, leaving 1 inch of the stem and the roots. Wash beets, cover with boiling water, and cook until tender. Drain, keeping 1 cup to use as cooking liquid. While slicing beets, remove skin (it should peel off easily). Combine cooking liquid, vinegar, sugar and salt. Add spice bag to vinegar mixture. Cover and heat to boiling point. Add sliced onions and beets, and then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove spice bag. Quickly pack one hot and sterilized jar at a time, sealing jars right away, while continuing to simmer. Makes 4 pints.
Red and green pepper relish
4 large green bell peppers
4 large sweet red peppers
6 medium onions
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar
Chop peppers and onions in a food processor on medium. Drain juice. Add juice to a pot and add salt, sugar and vinegar. Heat to boiling point, then boil gently for 5 minutes. Put in hot, sterilized jars and fill to top. Seal immediately. Makes 4 1/2 pints.
Apple chutney
10-12 medium-sized green tomatoes (3 pounds)
4 medium red apples (1 1/4 pounds)
3 medium sweet red peppers
4 medium onions
2 cups white vinegar
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
Wash vegetables and fruit. Quarter tomatoes. Core and quarter unpeeled apples. De-seed and quarter peppers. Peel and quarter onions. Using coarse setting of food processor, grind fruit and vegetables. Combine remaining ingredients, then heat to boil. Add fruit and vegetables. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally; continue simmering while spooning into heated, sterilized pickling jar. Pack jars one at a time leaving 1/8 inch at the top, and seal each jar immediately as it is filled. Makes 6 pints.
Pickled cabbage
1 head white cabbage
1/2 cup salt
12 very small onions
10 cloves
8 peppercorns
1 chili pepper
Vinegar
Trim and wash a white or red cabbage, then drain and slice into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and let stand 24 hours, turning cabbage occasionally. Drain and place in glass jar with peppercorns, cloves, and chili pepper well mixed in with a heavy pour of vinegar to cover, Let stand for another 24 hours.
