Kitchen Notes: Quick Pickled Winter Radish
plus the many splendored ways to eat a pickle
In the pickle aisle at the grocery store, without fail, my husband’s mouth will water. It’s something that always surprises him, this Pavlovian response to the thought of a vegetable soaked in vinegar.
The man lives for a pickle. At home, I’ll catch him untwisting the lids from various mason jars and drinking the vinegar brine as a little treat. The more vinegar pop, the better. His mother tells me she ate pickles nonstop during her pregnancy with Jamie, which makes his predilection all the more reasonable. It should come as no surprise, then, that one of his favorite kitchen projects is pickling. Yes, it’s a farmer’s near-duty to preserve the harvest, but it’s also a way to keep jars full of vinegar nearby if you’re a picklehead.
In the wintertime, we lean on storage radishes for technicolor in a season otherwise known for stew browns and the dark green of collard leaves. Radishes come in all sizes, shapes, and colors and are quick to enliven a drab winter palette. Plus, they’ll keep in your crisper drawer well until spring.
Farmers in our region plant winter radish varieties August through October, then harvest them during the winter months where they can be stored and used all season. That’s the nice thing about a storage crop. A farmer can harvest them all at once and keep them for extended amounts of time, and so can you.
We grow Green Loubo, Purple Bravo, Minnowase daikon, Black Radish (a variety that has a spice akin to horseradish). Sliced thin, they can be added raw to salads and sandwiches. Give them a rough chop and roast them in the oven, or toss into the stew pot. Our favorite way to eat winter radish is by quick pickling them.
P.S.—If you’ve never had the pleasure of unleashing the funk of a radish pickle into the air by opening a jar, it’s an experience you must not miss!
WAYS TO USE YOUR RADISH PICKLES
+ Julienned atop a bowl of soup
+ Diced finely over rice bowls
+ On tacos!
+ Scattered over your breakfast hash, or scrambled eggs
+ Layered into a sandwich or wrap
+ Put the chunky ones in the stew pot
+ Added to a salad
+ Use the pickle brine to make a simple vinaigrette
+ Drink the vinegar from the jar to make yourself feel alive!
Quick Pickled Radish
This is a flexible recipe, which is how we like it. The goal is freedom of choice and the loosening of constraints that keep us tied to a recipe for no good reason. Unburden yourself! Play with the type of vinegar and spice mixture. Add more sugar, or less. Don’t have enough radish to make a quart? That’s okay. Save the remaining pickling liquid for another project. Just bring to a boil and pour over the next batch of vegetables. Have fun!
Winter radish (enough to fill a quart container), rinsed and sliced thin on a mandoline, or rough chopped and chunky
2 cups vinegar (we used red wine vinegar this last time)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon kosher salt (we used Diamond Crystal)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon pickling spice
Place prepared radish into a quart container, or mason jar. Place remaining ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil. Carefully pour the hot brine over the radishes to completely submerge the vegetable, and refrigerate. Let sit for two hours, or overnight before using. Pickles will keep for at least a month in the refrigerator.
VINEGAR CONSIDERATIONS
Any kind of vinegar is fair game in this recipe. It just depends on what kind of pucker you want in a pickle.
+ Assertive vinegars like apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, and distilled white vinegar give the heftiest acidic punch.
+ If you want something a little less in-your-face, go for a white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar.
+ Even lighter and more nuanced is rice wine vinegar.