by Tim Pohland, category manager, online shopping
Monday, August 15, 2011
Years ago as a young child, one of the highlights of my summer was waking up at dawn and going to the farmers market with my family. We would pick up a few bushels of pickling cucumbers and go home to make our “famous” spicy dill pickles. To this day, this is an every other year tradition that I still cherish.
As I enrolled in culinary school and my dreams turned to food and recipes, there was always a recurring thought. Why can’t other vegetables be pickled? About 8 years ago, one our bi-annual farmers market excursion, I glanced over and saw the mounds of fresh green beans and wondered what would happen if we pickled those green gems. We bought just a few pounds so we could experiment with them. After all, if they turned into a disaster, we probably couldn’t even give them away. I tweaked our spicy dill pickle recipe a little bit…a little less garlic and red pepper flakes…a little more dill, and canned away. Just like home brewing beer, the toughest part of canning is waiting for them to be ready.