Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1160216
12 WAC Magazine | wac.net Pickling your late summer harvest is a great way to bring flavor and color into your fall diet. Refrigerator pickles make it easy and require no expertise. u Pickling Cocktail corner Oktoberfest Thirsty Thursdays Taste By Eric Floyd, Executive Chef Pickles—crisp, briny, and best eaten straight from the jar! For me, pickles con- jure up a certain late-summer nostalgia of my grandmother slicing and jarring cucumbers, carrots, beets, cherry toma- toes, and pretty much any good veggies she could get her hands on. Spicy, sweet, mild, hot … there are an infinite number of ways to pickle vegetables, and you don't need any jarring expertise to get started. In fact, quick pickling is one of the easiest ways to preserve your late sum- mer bounty. Quick pickling produces outstanding results—known as "refriger- ator pickles"—without the added hassle and equipment of true canning. It's best done using market-fresh vegetables, preferably from your backyard or your neighborhood farmers market. My favorites are carrots, cucumbers, and red onions. Begin by washing your produce thor- oughly and peeling the carrots and red onions. en, slice the cucumbers into thin rounds, cut the carrots into spears, and sliver the onions into rings. For the brine, use a basic one-to-one ratio of vinegar to water. You can adjust the brine to your liking and use just about any vinegar out there. Rice wine, apple cider, and red wine are some of my favorites. You can also add salt or sugar if you like. e best way to step up your brine game is through the addition of spices. Fresh dill is a classic, but rose- mary and oregano work nicely, as well. Garlic cloves, fresh ginger, and whole spices—like mustard seeds, peppercorns, The art of the pickle It's easy to bring summer's bounty well into fall O L I V I A B R E N T