I think it’s rather obvious at this point that I’m a big fan of pickles. It’s possible that I like making pickles even more than I like eating them. Possible, but it’s a close call. One of my favorite parts of making pickles is the waiting. You do all the work up front, but you can’t tell how they’ll turn out for weeks. Maybe someone with a bit more experience in pickle-making could taste a pickle that hasn’t been aged and tell immediately what it will be like in a week or a month, but not me. I’m not in a hurry to learn though; that anticipation is great. There’s always some chance that when you crack open the jar, it will turn out to be horrible…and that’s happened to me a few times. But it makes the times it does work that much better.

These pickles were one of the good surprises. They definitely exceeded my expectations. I based them (very loosely) on the bread and butter zucchini from The Joy of Pickling (an excellent resource for pickles of all kinds.) I’d made those previously (by the book the first time) and they turned out wonderfully, but my favorite part was the onions. This time I wanted to focus even more on the onions. I wasn’t quite ready to go for full-on pickled onions with nothing else, so I tossed in a few bell peppers. Honestly, the peppers are good, but completely superfluous.

I also wanted to play up the spices a bit, and thought I might as well mix them up while I was at it. A few months back I was at the Spice House and saw cassia buds. I’d never seen them before and was curious. They let me take one to taste and it was lovely…like cinnamon, but decidedly sweeter and more mellow, with floral top notes. I had no idea what I would do with them, but I had to get some. Well, right on the label it says they’re commonly used in some Asian pickles. Perfect! I thought they would pair well with some bright coriander. And now, a few weeks later, these onions confirm that choice.

Late summer and early fall is probably my favorite time of year. Cool without being bone-numbingly cold. You still have the summer abundance of veggies, but it’s cool enough to actually use your kitchen. And it’s pickling time. I tend to make several small batches of different pickles instead of a few large batches. Invariably I have to cut a recipe way down to make the amount I want. I’m pretty much the only one in my house who really likes pickles, so there’s no sense in making 8 quart jars in a batch. I also tend to make pickles with whatever I have on hand instead of buying veggies specifically to pickle, so I never have a ton at once.

These pickles were one such case. I love eggplant, but the Miss and the Wife won’t touch it. So I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it when I got a few in my CSA box. After much consideration (and a bit too much procrastination) pickles became the default choice.

This is my second go at making sauerkraut. I think the first time might have given me a bit of false confidence. My first batch was a very straightforward recipe: cabbage, salt and caraway. It turned out beautifully, with a mild (but distinct) fermented flavor and just enough caraway. It was idiot simple (especially since I used a mandoline to shred the cabbage instead of doing it by hand.) Since it turned out so well the first time, of course I had to change several things the second time around.

I tried adding purple beans to the cabbage this time around on the premise that sauerkraut isn’t cooked, so maybe they’d keep their purple color.  (Also because when I cut up the cabbage and beans for the Thai coleslaw, I had waaaaaay more than I needed and figured sauerkraut was a good use for it.)  Well, as you can see, the purple beans did not stay purple.  I guess fermentation and cooking have similar effects on the pigment.

I also wanted to mix up the spices a bit, so I added coriander and allspice.  Why?  Because I like them.  Honestly, I wanted to try something different and this seemed as good a choice as any.  Friends occasionally ask me why I chose a specific combination of spices/herbs/flavors, and I’m always somewhat at a loss to describe exactly why.  They just seemed like a good fit.  I’ll get an idea in my head for a combination of spices.  Sometimes I’ll open the jars and smell them together to get an idea of the combination; sometimes I just cook it and see.  More often than not, it works out.  I guess the largest part is being able to remember and combine flavors in my head, paired with my memory bank of recipes past. 

Well, I think I changed one thing too many. This batch has a much stronger flavor…closer to the flavor of commercial sauerkraut. And I can’t pinpoint it to one thing. Is it because of the added purple beans? Is it somehow the spices? Was it a bit warmer when this batch was fermenting? Don’t get me wrong, this batch is good. I really do like the sunny, citrus-y grace notes the coriander added, especially with the base notes from the allspice. I guess there’s nothing to do but try these spices again without the beans.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge The Joy of Pickling. I changed enough things that I wouldn’t quite say this recipe is adapted from that book, but it is an excellent reference. The book as a whole is great; if you like pickles, it’s a must-have. But it also has a great little reference section on sauerkraut, troubleshooting several common problems and giving hints and reasons.