Pickling Like Crazy

A big part of my life lately is focused on finding happiness and contentment in what I have, rather than what I wish I had. That meant taking a look at my life and figuring out what makes me happy, learning at what moments I feel most content. I've found that I often find my contentment in the kitchen. I'm a kitchen Witch, and I've come to realize I feel especially witchy when I'm preserving foods. Sure, I always add that extra touch when cooking any meal, but preserving is different. It's such a wholesome, earthy, productive act. It's one of those activities that immediately make you feel like you're doing something meaningful, something old and traditional. It's an act with roots. It's just one of those things you can do, that your parents may or may not have done, but your grandparents likely did, as did your great grandparents, and their grand parents before them.

Here we are smack in the middle of the harvest season. Mabon will soon be upon us. Fruits and vegetables are in abundance- so much so that I find myself with a little more than I can use right now. When it comes to preserving certain summer vegetables, like cucumbers and zucchini, pickling seems to be the best way to go. Sure, you can dry zucchini into chips (which are absolutely delicious by the way,) but in that form it's easy to eat a whole zucchini before you realize it. Freezing is an option for zucchini, but I don't think cucumbers hold up well. You know I like my eggs pickled, so I decided to branch out and see just what else I can spice up and save for the winter months.

I went again with a spicy pickle seasoning for the zucchini and cucumber. The eggs worked well- with a sort of spicy brown mustard flavor- but I wanted to try something just a little bit hotter. Not a lot. Just enough to give them some bite.

Spicy Pickled Cucumbers and Zucchini

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp pickling spice

1 tsp mustard seed

a pinch of red pepper flake (just a pinch!)

The pickling procedure is all the same. Simply cube or slice your veggies (I cubed the zucchini and sliced the cucumbers) and pack them into clean, sterile jars.

Prepare the brine and bring to a simmer, then pour into the jars. Occasionally jostle any air bubbles to the surface and continue filling the jars completely.


After making a huge batch of carrot and raisin slaw, I still had a lot of leftover carrots. Since we couldn't resist playing with my new food processor just a little bit more, JP sliced up a bunch of the carrots and I decided to pickle them too.

For the carrots I went back to a more traditional "dilly" flavor. I'm not sure how these will come out, but I'll be glad to update you as soon as I find out. I think along with the carrot chips, I want to try this recipe with carrot sticks. They might be a bit easier to eat, I'm guessing.

Dilly Pickled Carrots

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 cup white vinegar

2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp pickling spice
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp dill

Again, use your regular canning methods. It takes a little shaking to get all the air bubbles out of carrot slices, and I'm sure I missed some, but that's OK. This is a kitchen witch experiment after all.


I just picked up another case of jars, so there's sure to be more canning projects in the future. It's a practice I think I enjoy more than any other when it comes to cooking. I've heard some ideas from friends and family on more unusual foods that can be pickled. Maybe even step into the world of preserves... assuming I could find a way to make them Primal, of course. As always, I'm looking for suggestions.

I have a lot more carrots that I'd love to pickle. I'd also like to know, if you've made carrot pickles, what spices did you use for them? Or do you have any ideas that maybe you haven't tried but would like to see done?