Where have all the pickles gone?
It wasn't so long ago that every well-dressed American dinner table was bejeweled with an assortment of them - emerald-green tomatoes, ruby-red beets and opalescent pearl onions, as well as less-glamorous (though certainly no less delicious) okra, mushrooms and watermelon rind. The pickle tray was a standard part of a Sunday supper.
Nowadays, almost the only pickle you'll find is cucumber. And while there's nothing wrong with your basic bread-and-butter, half-sour or dill, there are so many other possibilities to explore.
What about radishes, for example, pickled pink, with a refreshing sweet-tart bite to match their crisp texture? Or tangy peppers, yellow turmeric-stained zucchini or even surprisingly savory pickled grapes?
These are more than mere curiosities. They are perfect for the way we eat in the summertime. A bite of crisp tart pickle is as cooling as an evening breeze.
Its acidity cuts right through the smoke and richness of grilled meat, just as its sweetness and spiciness balance and complement it. Do you doubt it? Think about ketchup, which, when broken down to its basics, is really nothing more than a pureed pickle of ripe tomatoes.
Pickles also make great antipasti. Like olives (technically, yet another kind of pickle), their punchy flavors prime the palate for the bigger dishes to come.
But while many traditional pickles take weeks of aging to mellow and mature, there are very good pickles you can make in a single day.
You don't need fancy equipment or advanced cooking skills. If you can slice a vegetable and boil water, you can make a pickle.
First, a little definition: A pickle is a fruit or a vegetable that is preserved through acidity. Because most harmful bacteria have a hard time surviving in a low-pH environment, pickling was an important part of preserving the harvest in the days before refrigeration.
There are two main ways of making a pickle. The first is by salting the food to draw out its moisture, which is rich in sugars that are fermented by naturally occurring bacteria to create lactic acid (the same acid that preserves so many of our favorite foods, including yogurt, cheeses and salumi).
This is how pickles as diverse as sauerkraut and olives are made. The flavors created are complex, but the time required is long - weeks or even months.
