Spicy "Man Pickles"

Since the culmination of the pickling blog, I've shared all of my pickles with Philip and his roommates.  So it was no surprise when Brumley came to me begging to learn how to create these glorious green goodies. 

It also happened to be the same weekend our dear friend Phelix was visiting.  Which meant one thing:  lots of spicy Man Pickles. 

The boys showed up on Saturday morning, supplies and all.  And got right to work, chopping, stuffing, posing. 



All work and no play, I run a mean pickling camp.

  

  

Friends who pickle together... ?

These pickles followed with the normal ingredients.

Pickling cucumbers

White onion

Jalepeno

Garlic

White Vinegar

Multitudes of spices

Kosher salt

etc.



                                                       

The pickles were great.  Later that week Brumley went home and bought his own pickling utensils, jars and ingredients. 

Like the old Chinese proverb says:

If you give a man a pickle

He'll eat for a day

If you teach a man to pickle

He'll eat for a lifetime.

Pickle on Men!

Sweet and Spicy

A friend from work got wind of my pickling obsession and asked to get in on the action.  I gladly accepted. She was my first guest pickler.

Enter - Megan

When asked if she wanted to try to make sweet or spicy pickles, she said both, and this girl doesn't take no for an answer.  

We made two separate brines. Below, I will try to reproduce the measurements.

SWEET PICKLES: 

In each Jar, pre-brine:

cuke slices

Baby white onion

tsp mustard seeds

Brine: 

2 cups apple cider vinegar

4 cups water 

1/4 salt

1/2 sugar (we realized we could've used more, i would suggest doubling this)

1/2 tbs crushed red pepper

black pepper

2 tsp mustard seeds

dry dill

*keep the boiling brine covered as much as possible, to reduce the spicy fumes dispersed among your kitchen and into your lungs.

SPICY:

In each jar, pre-brine:

cuke slices or spears

3 sprigs of fresh dill (or tsp of dry dill)

tsp whole black peppercorns

1 sliced jalepeno

1-2 sliced baby onions

1/2 to 1 sliced banana pepper

3 whole peeled garlic cloves

Brine:

2 cups white vinegar

4 cups water

1/4 - 1/3 cup salt (dissolvable)

dry dill

1/2 small jar black peppercorns

crushed red pepper

tsp+ cumin

tsp+ white pepper

ginger

allspice

other spices to your liking (i'm a fan of 'you can't use too many spices')

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:

After boiling each brine separately and funneling them into their respective jars, we screwed the two piece lid on, only slightly closed in order to let the air bubbles release and the lid seal completely.  Let them sit overnight until they seal completely.  Then we popped them in the fridge for about a week. 

Once you refrigerate them, that's where they need to stay.  After opening, make sure to eat them within 3 months since they are 'fresh' pickles. 

We tried them on Tuesday and they were a *hit* at work.  We were even able to educated a few co-workers.


PICKLE EDUCATION:
Q: 'Where do pickles come from?'
A: 'Pickles? You mean the things that look and taste just like cucumbers soaked in vinegar?' *

*pickles do in fact come from cucumbers.  I apologize if you did not know that and my words seem condescending.  Not my original intention.