Pickling is one of the oldest and easiest ways to preserve foods. Anything can be pickled. Fruit pickles! Veggie pickles! Pickled fish! Pickled pork! Pickled beef! Pickled eggs! Ok you get the idea anything can be pickled. Once you start pickling things you may not want to stop experimenting.
Generally when we think of pickles we thing of the ones from the grocery store where every bottle tastes the same as the next. Real pickles, homemade pickles have the bite of vinegar the crunch of the cucumber, slightly salty, slightly sweet. The true taste of a pickle is the one you make. When you make your own pickles you can substitute different types vinegar, kick up the heat by adding a dried chili to the jar before you seal them. Have a sweet tooth, make some super sweets. Want to make a crowd pleasing topping for deserts how about desert pickles?
All this pickle talk has made me think of one question. Why do we refer to pickles as only cucumbers? The reality of the situation is that the liquid that the cucumbers is put in is the actual pickle, the result is a pickled cucumber. The real champion of the equation is the vinegar. Vinegar's preservative powers are top of the class. The high acidity of vinegar makes it an unwelcome environment for just about all micro-organisms, which is why we have to add some spices and maybe some sugar to the mix to make the pickle taste less like window cleaner. There are some tried and true combinations that have been handed down over the years. Pickles are probably only limited by your imagination. So get out in the kitchen and get yourself into a pickle! It won't hurt I promise.
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