PICKLES GO UPSCALE

FROM BALTIMORE MAGAZINE

Pickles are popping up all over the city as many area chefs and food purveyors turn out their own delicious versions. For Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen, pickling is a way of life. He pickles and preserves summer’s produce to provide local ingredients year-round at his restaurant. He even pickles broccoli stems, which many other restaurants toss in the trash, he says. When Clementine’s Winston Blick pickles at his restaurant, he thinks of his grandmother’s home cooking. Jason Gallant, owner of In a Pickle, aims for old-fashioned charm, selling his pickles from large, brine-filled barrels at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar and at D.C.’s Eastern Market. And these cooks aren’t just making traditional dill or sweet pickles— they’re pickling a variety of items, including eggs, beets, pumpkins, and rhubarb. The basic ingredients of pickling brine are water, salt, sugar, and vinegar (see recipe). The brine is then poured over raw foods and sealed in a container, which can then be heated, stored in the refrigerator, or vacuum-sealed.

Whatever method is used, pickling fits right into the “craft-food” movement of focusing on locally sourced and prepared foods. We talked to several local preservers about their mission.
Clementine

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The article goes on to portray the pickled offerings at local, Baltimore restaurants. We actually found the article fairly funny. We have been eating pickled veggies and fruits for years. Our bubbe made pickled tomatoes and pickled watermelon rind. Go into any Israeli restaurant, and a veritable cornucopia of pickled veggies adorns the table. Pickled beets? Yup. Pickled carrots and cauliflower? To be sure. Pickled cabbage? Of course. We even had pickled lemons recently.

As the words of the sang say: Everything old is new again!