Quick and easy pickling doesn’t take long. It’s a treat, and absolutely worth trying.
By Katherine Ingui
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a local artists’ studio a few weeks ago a little outside Athens, Georgia. The art was a combination of pottery and sculpture made by a retired UGA professor, Ron Meyers, who is still making headlines in the world of ceramics. He and his wife hosted a few students and I for lunch, following the visit.
On the table was a lovely little jar of homemade pickles. They were made at the beginning of the summer and were fantastically done. I have always admired those who pickle. Not because of the difficulty, because it’s relatively easy, but for the time and preparation. I guess I just haven’t made that extra effort to make my own, so I decided (after having these little guys) that it was my turn.
I wanted to go home and re-make these delicious little bites, but I didn’t have the equipment, time, or patience to wait a couple of months to eat these pickles. So I decided to creatively improvise and do some quick pickling. I had a bag of fresh okra in the freezer that had been picked this past summer, and I thought what better of a sign! I needed to make these- clearly. I looked up this recipe on allrecipes.com, and went for it. I’ll say, for my first try these were pretty impressive. They’re all gone, so that says something good, right?
- 1½ pounds fresh okra
- 3 dried red chile peppers
- 3 teaspoons dried dill
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup vinegar
- 2 tablespoons salt
- Divide the fresh okra evenly between 3 sterile (1 pint) jars.
- Place one dried chile, and one teaspoon of dill into each jar.
- In a small saucepan, combine the water, vinegar and salt, and bring to a boil.
- Pour over the ingredients in the jars, and seal in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
- Refrigerate jars after opening.