pickle experiment

I routinely buy pickled veggies from the grocery store and currently I have a jar of pickled okra, pickled peppers and possibly a jar of lightly pickled baby corns(though i may have gobbled those up) in the fridge. So, now that I've recognized my love of these crunchy, puckery treats and I'm trying to make my own, not to keep indefinitely the way we did when I was younger, but rather to eat immediately.


i love the old fashioned look of the swing top lid on this jar.

Just a couple of days ago, I tossed out a jar of brandied cherries that I had picked and canned back in 2004, the summer before I got married. As I watched them roll down the drain, I realized that I had totally missed out on enjoying that jar of cherries because I waited too long to eat them. I'm tired of throwing out good food(although I was deeply unconvinced of the goodness of those cherries with their browning edges) and so I've realized that I need to simply make what we can eat quickly, without saving it for years upon years, until it becomes too special to open and consume.



In my quest to make pickles, I realized that I did not have all the ingredients necessary, I was missing one of the most important things, pickling spices! So, I made my own, based on this recipe and then just added some black peppercorns and some juniper berries.

Once I had all my ingredients assembled, I followed this recipe for asparagus pickles, but found that I had lots of pickling juice left over so threw some baby carrots in a jar and then a few persian cucumbers in another jar and used the same pickling liquid for them. I hope these little experiments turn out delicious, but if they don't, they were just a last minute addition to my pickling experiment!


I love the addition of a lemon slice at the bottom of the asparagus jar. It such a pretty contrast with the green spears.