Cruising At Home with Pickles
3 October 2007 by Jean Johnson
The Spitz Springs contingency down on the Southwest’s Colorado Plateau always thwacks the ball right out of the court when it comes to food. Not only do they grow their own, mostly, they’re hip to seasons and sustainability, and treat their laying hens right.
They just sent this photo along with the note that this is one batch in 30 quarts of pickles that they’ve been putting up.
Aside from the wide mouth jars lined up so purposefully on the counter, the color captivated me. The orange and yellow hues are like a fiesta in a jar. Carrots and summer squash–or maybe the yellow is just the inside of the cucumbers. Whatever. The stuff is gorgeous. And just the kind of thing those who have a garden outside the door inevitably find themselves doing for the sheer joy of it, not to mention winter sustenance. Indeed, as the Japanese appreciate, pickled food can make a meal.
Clearly canning is not ultrafast cooking. You have to spend some serious time here. The payback, though, is that once that Saturday is invested, whatever you put up will contribute to ultrafast meals throughout the winter.
