winter pickles - cont.
Around the same time last year I made radish pickles. I'm simply going to do it again. But different.
Right now the market is booming with crazy radish varietals and they're big and gorgeous. This time around we harvested them from our very own farm and I can already tell they're going to be juicy and flavorful. I can't think of anything I would love to do more than to snack on these plain and raw, but I'm definitely cautious and don't think that would be a wise idea for my stomach right now. I definitely still bought a handful of all different kinds anyways.
I can't have them raw, cooked doesn't make it any better, so I needed a loophole so I could eat these later in life - or at least make them easier to digest... Obviously a pickle. (I guess I could've dehydrated them???)
I also still feel like my GI tract problems are bouncing between being a parasite and a gallbladder issue, even 5 months in! Regardless of what it is, no matter what I've read I keep seeing the same thing: almost with any kind of GI complication, the gut flora is suffering and needs to be restored with all of the healthy bacteria to help food digest properly. Now I do take a daily strong probiotic that my naturopath gave me, but I could always be getting more in the forms of whole foods. (I always have this fear that my pills just go right through me.) That's where fermentation comes in.
I do still have a lot of pickles in my fridge currently, and a lot of those are specifically radish pickles. Whatever. I love pickled radishes the most. To make them different from the kimchi radishes, the sweet turmeric radishes and regular salted radishes I added some Vietnamese and Japanese flavors that I love the most, not only in my pickles, but in pretty much anything. Fish sauce and miso (and chili and garlic).
If I haven't said it before I'll say it again: making pickles is easy. I guess it's not easy, though, if you don't have patience, but if you have that then it's definitely easy. The basic fundamental requirements are a vegetable, salt and a jar that seals (or not, it's fine).
1 ) In this case we are using radishes as our vegetable. The particular varieties of radishes I chose to use are the Chinese Green Luobo, the recently popular Watermelon Radish and the China Rose. All of these varieties are juicy and spicy - exactly what I love about the radish family.
Of course if you don't like radishes, feel free to substitute with any other hearty vegetable. Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips - all would work very well.
2 ) As for the salinity portion of the recipe, it will consist of regular salt, as well as fish sauce and miso. If you're like my mom and repulsed by even the smell of fish sauce, it is of course not a required necessity and can easily be omitted and substituted with more miso paste. I like it because it creates a very savory end result. Maybe it's just me, too, but I don't even really taste it in the finished product.
3 ) This mixture will be a larger batch so the vessel will be a medium sized crock. A crock is just an earthenware container that may or may not come with a lid and weights. If your crock comes with a lid and weights, congrats! If not, congrats! - your kitchen has both.
I was fortunate enough to come across my medium sized crock at an antique store for $11 - a crazy find. It came with a lid and I was able to find the proper sized weights at my local fermentation store (also easily found online). A traditional crock is not necessary to successfully make pickles, however; any large, wide-mouthed jar will work just fine. In this instance, a half-gallon jar would work best. As for weights, be creative. A plastic bag filled with water works, as well as small plate pressed firmly down on to the pickle mix.
Last thing. I chose to use a SPIRALIZER to cut my radishes into long noodles. I merely chose this idea because I've cut pickles into every possible shape and wanted to try something new for fun. If you want to spiralize but don't have one, a julienne peeler is a great substitute and one of my favorite kitchen tools! By all means do whatever fits your purpose
best - matchsticks, grated, quartered, cubed. I'm confident in saying that it really doesn't matter and would only mean either less or more fermenting time.
radish pickles
makes roughly 2-3 quarts
4 lbs mixed radishes, about 4-5 large radishes around 6"
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp chili paste, or flakes
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup miso paste
2 tbsp organic white sugar
Before starting, make sure that your pickling vessel is very clean and dried.
Begin by processing all the radishes to your liking. Again, you can spiralize them, or not.
Once everything is to the desired cut, place all of the radishes into a large bowl and sprinkle with the tablespoon of salt. Mix everything around so it's evenly distributed. This may seem like a too little amount of salt, but there will be more forms of salt added later.
Let the mixture sit for 10-15 minutes. This allows the salt to draw the liquid out of the very moist radishes and create the beginnings of the pickling liquid.
In a separate small bowl mix the miso, chili paste, sugar and garlic together. When it comes together as a paste, add the fish sauce and mix until smooth.
Add the miso mixture to the bowl of radishes and combine until well-coated.
The last step is to cleanly transfer the entire mixture into the chosen fermentation vessel. Cleanly because you don't want any excess moisture on the outside of the vessel to ferment and potentially mold. Press the pickles down firmly so that the juices rise and air bubbles at the bottom release. If using weights, place them on top now. The same goes if using a lid as well.
**Post-fermentation notes:
Check on your pickles in a few days - just give it a peak to make sure everything's looking good. Has anything started to bubble? FYI, if you pickled radishes, they're going to STINK. Don't be alarmed.
After a week,, take another peak. Are they starting to mold? If there's a little white film forming on the top, not to worry. This is normal and again, don't be alarmed. Just scrape off now, and you'll probably have to scrape it off when you're done pickling too.
After two weeks, taste. Are they ferment-y enough for your liking? Sour and salty enough? Effervescent? If so, remove from jar and transfer into sealed containers. If not, let sit in the crock for another week and repeat this step.
