{"id":3850,"date":"2016-09-06T14:28:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T18:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/?p=3850"},"modified":"2016-09-07T10:24:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T14:24:08","slug":"the-pickle-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/picklesandtea\/the-pickle-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pickle Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>

From top left, going clockwise: watermelon, red onion, mustard cabbage, carrot and daikon, cabbage kimchi. <\/p><\/div>\n

I like to pickle all year long and this past summer, I was in quite a pickle frenzy. At one point, I had 5 different pickles sitting in my fridge (I’m lazy and refuse to can). My husband was a little peeved about having his beer displaced so he bought a beer fridge. Ha!<\/p>\n

Just for fun, here are some random musings about my pickle collection.<\/p>\n

1. Watermelon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing screams summer more than watermelon. And this year, I was thrilled to find yellow watermelons at the farmers market (yes, they taste the same but I digress). To appease my hate-to-waste-food conscience that has always been perturbed by the huge hunks of rind leftover after eating the sweet, juicy middle, I decided to pickle them. If you want, you can leave about 1\/2-an-inch of flesh but I always chomp the sweet flesh down to the white rind. Be warned, the allspice berries give the watermelon pickles a kick quite unlike the Asian pickles I’m used to. Click here <\/a>for a recipe.<\/p>\n

2. Red onion <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I left for a week-long vacation, I took stock of my fresh produce. There, lying in my veggie basket was a lonely red onion. My good intentions for it had come and gone so I turned it into refrigerator pickles. I was delighted by the fuschia outcome and top sandwiches, braised meats, etc., etc. with it. Click here<\/a> for a recipe.<\/p>\n

3. Mustard cabbage (kai choy<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve always bought pickled mustard cabbage in vacuum-sealed packs at the Asian store. I was was very excited to discover that it’s easy to make at home and definitely much tastier. See below for recipe.<\/p>\n

4. Carrot and daikon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Carrot and daikon pickles are a must for some of my favorite Vietnamese dishes: b\u00e1nh m\u00ec<\/em> sandwiches, vermicelli noodle bowls (b\u00fan<\/em>) and much, much more! I always like to have a stash on hand ready to garnish. Click here<\/a> for a recipe.<\/p>\n

5. Cabbage and daikon kimchi<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you know you can kimchi-fy just about anything? Now that you do, try any of these wouldn’t-you-know-it <\/i>vegetables: <\/p>\n