I put some asparagus in vinegar with garlic, red pepper flakes, and pickling spice a couple weeks ago. I just cracked it open, and they’re fantastic!
I also started a batch of sauerkraut today with garlic and caraway seeds in a brine. Gonna keep an eye on it and hope it comes out alright. I like that it’s a live fermentation, and will hopefully be full of good probiotics.
What’s your favorite thing to pickle, and in what?
Thai red birds eye peppers… those fuckers are spicy (use gloves when handling, no seriously) and the mix of tannins, acid and natural pepper flavors is amazing. I pickle them sliced into 1cm loops so that I can just pull a spoonful out and throw it into a sauce or on top of a meal as a condiment.
I actually first did this during covid because an instacart order for one pepper ended up being misinterpreted as one cup of peppers.
As I’ve aged I’ve found myself wanting pickled veggies a lot more for their dietary benefits and the awesome flavor - we have a local polish import store that carries an extremely wide variety of all sorts of pickled things and it’s wonderful to have on hand. I love adding sauerkraut to tuna melts, pickled root veggies to salad and generally incorporate them into things I’m cooking.