Serious Eats - In a Pickle

In a Pickle: Curried Pickled Zucchini

2012-07-11T19:45:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

Judging from the number of emails to hit my inbox in recent days, we have now officially hit that phase of summer during which zucchini growth achieves warp speed. Mild-mannered backyard gardens turn into round-the-clock squash production facilities and if you're not careful to look under every leaf, you'll wake up one morning to a zucchini the size of a baseball bat.

There are a number of ways to deal with the zucchini onslaught. You can stuff them, grate them into quick bread batter, or turn them into any number of pickles, relishes, and preserves. Some years, I do zucchini slices in a bread and butter pickle brine and other years I treat them just like cucumbers and submerge them in apple cider vinegar spiked with dill seed and plenty of garlic.

This year, I decided to go with a slightly sweet curried zucchini pickle. The end result is a pickle that is sweet without being cloying, pleasantly tangy and vividly yellow.

Before You Get Started

If you have a mandoline, slicing the zucchini takes all of three minutes. If not, a little careful knife-work will do.

Try to keep the turmeric off your countertops, as it can cause stubborn staining.

If you like a spicy pickle, add a pinch of red chili to the pickling liquid.

About the author: Marisa McClellan is a food writer, canning teacher, and dedicated pickler who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her jams, pickles and preserves (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. Her first book, also called Food in Jars, is now available.

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In a Pickle: Sweet and Spicy Pickle Relish

2012-07-05T16:15:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

I grew up believing firmly in a condiment matrix. Mustard went on hot dogs, ketchup belonged to hamburgers, and relish was only applicable if I had a Dodger Dog in my hands. As I got older, I began to bend my self-imposed condiment rules and explored other applications. I discovered that mustard could also be good whisked into salad dressing and ketchup made an excellent glaze for meatloaf.

And then there's relish. True, it's good on hot dogs, but this condiment can do so much more. I think it's time to shake off the lowbrow reputation that pickle relish has been saddled with for so long and bring out into the limelight. Since it's essentially a chopped pickle, you can use it anywhere that a bit of sliced or minced dill pickle might go. Spread it on a sandwich, stir it into tuna or chicken salad, or even put it out on a cheese tray along with a dish of tapenade.

Another virtue of this type of relish is that it has the ability to absorb mountains of garden produce. Cucumbers and green peppers take up a heck of a lot of space in their natural form, but once shredded, they become compact and manageable.

Before You Get Started

If you have a food processor with a fine grating disc blade, this is a good time to pull it out. You can use a box grater, but using an appliance makes really quick work of it and keeps your knuckles entirely intact.

The reason that the recipe has you simmer the vegetables in apple cider, drain them and then add more is because these vegetables have a very high water content. They express enough liquid into the vinegar that they can dilute and leave the relish tasting weak and lifeless.

I like to add enough red chili flake to this relish to ensure that I experience a pleasant tingle while eating it. However, if you like things a little less hot, feel free to reduce or omit the chili flakes.

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Sweet and Spicy Pickle Relish »

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In a Pickle: Spicy Dilly Beans

2012-06-27T15:45:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

Over the last month, I've been traveling in support of my new cookbook. I've taught classes, led canning demos and answered a whole lot of questions. One thing I'm asked at nearly every event is to name my favorite recipes in the book. While the diplomatic thing would be to say that I love them all equally, there is one recipe that stands out for me above all others. The dilly bean.

Dilly beans are green beans, suspended in a vinegar-based pickling liquid and seasoned simply with garlic, black peppercorns and either dill heads or seeds. Because beans are sturdy little suckers, they retain their crispness through the boiling water bath process. Even months after canning, dilly beans will be crunchy and intensely flavorful.

They are often considered a regional pickle and are most often found in Vermont and down South. Some commercial manufacturers do make them, but they tend to be outrageously expensive compared to the cost of making them at home. Truly, you can make four pints for what it costs to buy a single jar at a specialty grocery store.

I tend to make two versions of dilly beans. The first is a basic, not-too-spicy pickled bean. This is the one I serve to kids and add to the condiment table at cookouts. The second is an intensely fiery take, best suited for stirring cocktails (try it in a Bloody Mary) or giving to heat-fiends. Today's recipe is the spicy version, but feel free to omit the red chili flakes for a tamer take.

Before You Get Started

Start with fresh beans. The more recently they were picked, the crisper the finished pickle will be.

Use regular mouth jars. The shoulders of the jar will keep the pickles positioned firmly below the brine line.

Trim the beans to fit your jars. This means that you may end up with a pile of orphaned, one-inch pieces. I like to gather those up and dedicate a jar to them.

Place all the spices in the bottom of the jar. This prevents spice loss during the addition of the pickling liquid and bubble removal.

Pack the beans tightly. Save a few beans and squeeze them in once the liquid has been added to the jar.

Tap jars firmly to remove any trapped air bubbles.

Make sure to give them at least a week on the shelf after processing, so that you get their full flavor (though I will say, even a young dilly bean is a good dilly bean).

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In a Pickle: Bread and Butter Pickles

2012-06-20T20:15:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

Sweet pickles. You either love them or you call them an abomination to all pickle-kind. I'm something of a fan myself and feel that any well-stocked pickle pantry is incomplete without a few sweet options to balance out all that unadulterated tartness.

Most years, I make a couple small batches of classic bread and butter pickles to eat with tuna salad or tucked into a post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich (don't knock it, it's a delicious combination).

I've been told that bread and butter pickles got their name from the role they played during lean times. Tucked between buttered slices of brown bread, even the smallest sandwich had the ability to satisfy your taste buds and leave you feeling as if you'd had a filling meal.

Before You Get Started

If you've never had a homemade sweet pickle, I implore you to try a batch. They're not painfully sweet in the way that the grocery store version is. This recipe might just make a believer out of you!

I make these pickles in small batches, because I buy my ingredients at the farmers' market. However, if your garden is bursting with cucumbers, peppers and onions, feel free to double or triple this batch.

After the vegetables are all sliced, you salt them generously and let them sit. The salt helps drain out the water and makes for a crisper pickle. In the recipe is say to just let them sit for an hour. However, in the past, I've salted them just before bed and kept them in the fridge all night. If that helps make them more manageable for you, feel free to do it that way.

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In a Pickle: Planning for Pickle Season

2012-06-13T22:00:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

Though it's entirely possible to can and pickle all year round, the summer months are prime time for squirreling away a bounty of pickled cucumbers, beans, peas and eggplant. Investing a little time in preserving during the summer months means you get to eat garlic scapes in January and bright, garden-ripened tomatoes right around Valentine's Day.

If you're planning tackling a few pickling recipes this summer for your pantry shelves, it's a good idea to do a little bit of planning now. A little strategic thinking means that you won't find yourself up to your elbows in hot pepper and then realize you're out of jars, lids or the necessary vinegar.

The Equipment

If it's been a year since you canned, give all your equipment a once-over. Scrub your processing pot and make sure you can put your hands on your canning rack.

Find your jar lifter, wide mouth funnel, and lid wand. Put them in the same place, so that you don't have to rummage for them every time you do a pickling project.

Check your utensils. Wooden tools should be clean and free of any cracks or mildew. Plastic and silicon tools need to be in good shape and without rips or holes. If you use silicon spatulas where the heads remove from a wooden handle, pull them apart and make sure there's isn't any black mold growing under the head.

Inventory your kitchen towels. Make sure you have a generous stack ready to use when you start to can. They're great for wiping rims, mopping up splashes from the canning pot, and placing under cooling jars.

Sharpen your knives. A well-honed blade makes for much easier work. Pull out your mandoline and see how its edge is doing (they don't last forever). Check your peelers and make sure they are free from rust and ready serve your for another year.

Take stock of your jars. If you're using older jars, check the rims to ensure they don't have any chips or dings. Head for a grocery or hardware store to get new lids and a few more cases of jars if you think it will be necessary.

The Ingredients

Vinegars: Stock up on several varieties of vinegar. I like to have a gallon of apple cider, white distilled, and red wine on hand at all times. When shopping, make sure that they're 5% acidity vinegars; that's the formulation that nearly all pickling recipes are based on.

Salt: Most pickles require the inclusion of salt in the brine. It's best to use pickling salt or a finely milled sea salt as they don't include any chemicals that can discolor your pickles and measure the same.

Spices: If you use a pre-blended pickling spice (no shame in that!) make sure you have enough to get you through the season. Also check on levels of dill seed, black peppercorns, red chili flakes, cinnamon sticks, bay leave and star anise.

A hour or so taking inventory and a good shopping list will do wonders in making this year's high pickle season a successful one in your kitchen!

In a Pickled: Fermented Radish Slices

2012-06-06T17:45:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

The radish is an amazingly handy and versatile little root. It grows incredibly fast (ready to pick just 28-30 days after the seeds go into the ground); it's full of bright, peppery flavor (the hotter the season, the spicier they'll be); and it can be eaten raw, braised, smeared with butter or pickled.

Of all the possible radish treatments, I'm particularly fond of them when pickled (though crunching through several buttered and salted French breakfast radishes is never bad either). My default radish pickle is this slightly sweet quick version I wrote about last fall. What's so nice about that one is that it takes all of seven minutes to put together from start to finish and it ready to eat within just a day or two.

I'll be the first to declare that the quick pickled version is delicious (and so good on a homemade taco). However, when I'm in no rush to go from radish to pickle, there's another method that results in a wonderfully crisp, tangy finished product that I actually like even better that the vinegar variation. If you haven't guessed it by now, I'm talking about a fermented radish.

Fermentation is one of the oldest method for food preservation. It's the process of allowing beneficial bacteria to grow within the food, transforming sugar and starches into tart lactic acid. It's how sauerkraut, preserved lemons, and the classic deli kosher dill are made and in addition to creating wonderful flavor, it also makes for a healthier, digestion-friendly pickle.

Before You Get Started

Make sure that both your primary jar and the weight (either smaller jar or bag) are scrupulously clean. Because fermentation is a process of allowing bacteria to work, you want to ensure you've got the good beneficial bacteria and not a harmful one.

When you ferment, it's important to keep the vegetable fully submerged in the brine. I like to use a wide mouth quart jar as my primary vessel and then use a little quarter pint jar filled with a bit of the brine as the weight. If you don't have a little jar that will fit, you can also fill a zip top bag with some of the brine and use that as your weight.

This recipe uses a 5% salt solution. To achieve that, bring 4 cups of water to a boil and stir in 3 tablespoons of sea salt until dissolved. Let it cool completely before using. This solution can be used for any number of fermented vegetables.

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In a Pickle: Pickled Garlic Scapes

2012-05-30T21:30:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

For a large portion of my life, I had no idea that garlic scapes existed—like so many of the vegetables that are now a part of my regular pickling routine. My parents were regular users of garlic, but the fact that hard-neck garlic plants issued green curly growth in early spring was entirely unknown to us back then.

It wasn't until I joined a CSA in my mid-twenties that garlic scapes found their way to my plate. I started by chopping them up and using them in place of garlic cloves in sautéed greens. Soon, I was turned on to the idea of turning them into a very pungent, vividly green pesto (it's a delicious way to handle them, and I make a point of whizzing scapes into pesto for the freezer every spring).

A couple years ago, I finally took the plunge and spiraled a handful of scapes into a jar, added a few spices and vinegar and found that they made a most delightful pickle. In its finished form, it ends up tasting like a wonderfully garlicky dilly bean. If you like the combination of garlic and a snappy pickle, you'll be quite pleased with this one.

Before You Get Started

You won't find garlic scapes in your local grocery store. They tend to be a farmers' market or CSA-only item. If you struggle to get some, make sure to ask at a local market; it could be that a farmer will bring some in for you.

Garlic scapes are naturally curly. Because of this, they can be kind of hard to tame. I like to trim the straight sections into lengths that will fit into the jars. I either cut the curly sections into small pieces or I twirl them into the jars so they press again the inside wall.

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In a Pickle: Pickled Spring Onions

2012-05-23T18:30:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

One of my favorite springtime moments is when the new onions start appearing at the farmers' markets. While generally related to the storage onion we all know, these freshly picked, uncured onions are smaller, sweeter, and more succulent than their elderly brethren. They typically still have their green stems attached, which are also entirely edible. Much like their cousin, the ramp, they let off a musky scent if placed in your refrigerator unwrapped.

These fresh, spring onions make for good eating. They're great sliced in half and grilled or caramelized until silky and tossed with pasta. They also happen to make an excellent pickle.

The thing I like most about pickled spring onions is their flexibility. The great majority of pickled vegetables out there are just one-trick ponies, but this particular pickle can play a number of roles. Dolloped on top of a burger, a basic cookout becomes quite gourmet. Need to bring an appetizer to a party? Toast baguette rounds, add a smear of creamy goat cheese and top with a bit of pickled onion. A bowl of baby arugula becomes a salad with a forkful of pickled onions and a drizzle of olive oil.

You get the picture.

Before You Get Started

This recipe is scaled to make a single pint of pickles. You're welcome to increase or decrease the recipe as you see fit.

You can use plain old storage onions in this recipe, if you can't find bundles of the new ones. They're not as sweet, but they're a doable substitute.

If you're planning a Memorial Day barbecue, make sure to add a jar of these pickles to the condiment table.

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In a Pickle: Pickled Harukei Turnips

2012-05-16T18:15:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

The first time I saw a hakurei turnip, I thought I was looking at some new-to-me strain of albino radish. It was at a farmers' market, back in my very early days as a local eater and pickler when so much was still unknown. I asked the farmer and he explained that they're a Japanese strain of turnips that get planted in early spring and are ready to harvest within just a month of planting.

Thus began my love affair with these young, creamy-fleshed turnips. Each spring, I look forward to their arrival at the market. They have a similar texture to radishes, but without a radish's signature pepperiness. Most often, I just slice them thinly and add them to salads or use them as a vehicle for hummus.

Another very nice thing about hakurei turnips is that their greens are just as tasty as the root. You can eat them raw, wilt them into a larger dish or puree them with a bit of green garlic, toasted nuts and olive oil into a terrifically green pesto. I do love a vegetable that you can eat from root to leaf.

Before You Get Started

This pickle includes a salting step before you add the vinegar to the vegetable. The salt draws out some of the liquid in the turnip, which in turn makes for a crisper pickle.

Unlike most pickles, which benefit from extended stays in vinegar, I find that I prefer this pickle when it's been freshly made. However, everyone's palate is different, so taste it an hour after you add vinegar and the next day as well, to determine how you like it best.

If you find that the hakurei turnip doesn't float your boat, try this same technique with daikon radish or even large carrots.

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In a Pickle: Marinated Fava Beans

2012-05-09T19:30:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

During my childhood, my mom cooked dinner nearly every night of the week. She was the queen of carefully balanced, health-conscious meals. There was always a protein, a green vegetable and a whole grain or starch (like brown rice or sweet potatoes).

At the time, my sister and I didn't fully appreciate these thoughtful meals. Instead, we lived for those rare nights when our mother announced that the kitchen was closed. She'd send us out with our dad for fast food, while she stayed home to luxuriate in an empty house.

While we stuffed our faces with French fries (a very rare treat), she'd make her signature "I'm cooking for myself" meal. It consisted of a packet of frozen broad beans (they are favas by another name), just warmed and tossed with a garlicky vinaigrette, and a scoop of cottage cheese on the side.

It wasn't until I was in college that I suddenly understood the appeal of my mom's marinated fava bean salad. Fava beans are sweet, tender and pleasantly starchy. When they're coated with a slick of olive oil, vinegar and garlic bits, the contrast between the sharp dressing and the mild greenness of the beans is really wonderful.

During fava bean season, I try to make it at least once or twice with the fresh beans. The rest of the year, I happily settle for the same frozen ones my mom always ate. It's good served as part of a spread of pickles and marinated salads, or just on its own.

Before You Get Started

The one problem with fresh fava beans is that they're something of a pain to prep. You have to remove them from the bean pods, place them in boiling water and then squeeze the edible interior out of its mealy jacket. Enlist friends to help if you're making a goodly amount.

Once you've finished shelling them for the second time, they're ready to eat. The quick blanch is really all the cooking they need.

I like to estimate a pound of fresh fava beans per person. With a pound, the finished edible yield will be right around 1/2 cup.

This technique works nicely for other fresh beans like lima beans or fresh chickpeas.

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In a Pickle: Pickled Spring Peas

2012-05-02T17:00:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

When it comes to spring peas, the simplest preparations are always the best. The youngest ones can be eaten raw, right off the vine (and when I lived at home and had regular access to my parents' vegetable garden, I did a lot of that). The slightly more mature peas should be blanched in salted water and then tossed with butter. Torn mint, if you're feeling fancy.

My issue with fresh peas is that they're both labor intensive and, if you're not growing them yourself, quite pricy. And their season is so fleeting. As a preserver, I'm always looking for ways to extend short seasons and make precious ingredients stretch, so I turned my pickling ray on spring peas.

In my research, I found a recipe for pickled peas on Food 52 that sounded very much what I was looking for. I've made it twice now, once as it was written and another time with a number of tweaks. It's the tweaked version I share with you today.

This technique is new to me this season, but I plan on adding it to my roster of mandatory pickles for 2013. The reason I'm so taken with these pickled peas is that they've lost none of their pea essence, but are also bursting with a vivid tartness. I've used them in a quick pasta dish and have a few left that I want to use to garnish my next batch of asparagus soup (two spring vegetables that go so well together).

Before You Get Started

Make sure you're working with the freshest peas you can get. If you're shopping at the farmers' market, make this pickle the same day you buy so that the peas don't turn into little starch bombs.

When you've got the peas in the pan with the oil, keep them moving.

I like sherry vinegar for this pickle, but a champagne or white wine vinegar would also work nicely. Stay away from darker vinegars for this one, as they'll turn the peas funky colors.

Make sure to give the peas time to rest before serving them. Overnight is best, but three to four hours will do in a pinch.

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In a Pickle: Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns

2012-04-25T17:00:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

Much like the ramps I wrote about last week, fiddlehead ferns are a fleeting spring delicacy. Found primarily in the wild, they are the fresh growth that appears at the top of a fern frond (only some varieties can be eaten. Make sure to check a reputable foraging guide before picking your own). If left alone, they develop into new leaves for the plant. However, careful foragers can trim a few off each plant during the early stages of their growth for a bright, fresh vegetable.

I find that fiddlehead ferns taste like a cross between asparagus and a green bean. A particular specialty of New England and the eastern coast of Canada, they've traditionally been steamed or boiled before being dressed with a sauce or vinaigrette.

As with any vegetable that has a condensed season, there's an instinctive urge to preserve it. Once cleaned and blanched, fiddlehead ferns become excellent pickles that allow you a chance to extend their season and enjoy their distinctive taste and texture a little while longer.

The finished pickles are good served with poached eggs and toast, with runny cheeses, or alongside any rich bit of meat or pate.

Before You Get Started

In years past, fiddlehead ferns were something that could only be obtained through foraging. However, these days they're a little easier to source. Check specialty stores and your local farmers' markets. I got mine at Iovine's, a produce vendor at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market.

As I noted above, not all fern tops are safe to eat. If you're foraging for yourself triple-check that you're getting the right kinds.

Prepare fiddleheads for pickling by washing them well, cleaning all the brown chaffy bits and simmering for 10-15 in boiling water.

Because they're either scarce or expensive, the recipe is scaled to make just one finished pint of pickles. If you find yourself falling in love with these pickles, I recommend splurging on a few more fiddleheads and putting up a few jars.

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In a Pickle: Quick Pickled Ramps

2012-04-18T17:15:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

There are few vegetables whose arrival is more heralded than the ramp. Part of its appeal is in its timing. It appears right at that moment when the overwintered potatoes, apples and squash have become soft, spotty and entirely unappetizing. Ramps are green, fresh and taste like a randy cross between green onions and garlic.

It used to be that ramps were something that people foraged for themselves. Bountiful spots were precious and their locations were coveted family secrets. These days, ramps are a little easier to come by, provided you live east of the Mississippi and get to your local farmers' market close to the opening bell.

Ramps, which are actually wild leeks, are good roasted, grilled, sautéed, whirled into vinaigrette or pureed into pesto. They also make an outstanding pickle. In fact, nearly every time I encounter ramps, I make pickles from the white root end. Would you expect anything else from me?

My first encounter with ramps came on my 30th birthday. A friend of mine came bearing a small jar of bulbs as a gift. After a bit of research, I submerged them in an unsweetened vinegar solution spiked with a healthy spoonful of traditional pickling spice. Though they were good, I've revised my technique a little over the years. I've found that ramps like a little bit of sweetness in their brine and that the clove-heavy pickling spice isn't always the right note with the slight funk of the ramps.

These days I used rice wine vinegar (unsweetened, please!) with a bit of sugar, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, a bay leaf and just a pinch of red chili flakes for heat. The resulting pickle enhances the natural ramp-y flavor.

Before You Get Started

Always buy more ramps than you think you need. The jar in these pictures looks a little skimpy because I underestimated my purchase. Ramps have such a short season that it's better to overbuy than underbuy.

Because there's nothing about a ramp that is either neat or precisely cultivated, you have to take a bit more care in their preparation. Wash them well in several changes of cold water to ensure you remove all the grit.

The best part of the ramp to pickle is the white part between the roots and the point at which the greens begin to sprout. Once you clean and trim them, you're left with a slender, three-inch portion. It's a lot of work, but definitely worth doing.

Don't toss the green tops! You can either sauté them and serve them as a cooked green or process them into a onion-y pesto.

Click here for even more information on ramps. And here's a ramp pickle recipe that Kenji posted last year.

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In a Pickle: Pickled Rhubarb Stalks

2012-04-11T17:15:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

Until very recently, pickled rhubarb was the sort of thing that would have been most at home on the dining table of another era. I can imagine in the pantry stores of a Southern family circa 1890 or as part of the rations for UK residents during World War II.

For some reason, rhubarb has always been associated with strictly sweet applications, despite the fact that it is actually a vegetable. It's even known in some quarters by the name "Pie Plant." While it does make excellent pie (particularly if you throw a few strawberries in the mix), it's time to see rhubarb as a more multi-faceted thing.

Happily, more and more people are re-discovering the many uses for rhubarb beyond pie and jam. I've seen it briefly simmered and served with pork, or cooked and strained into syrups for cocktails. And a few restaurants with motivated pickling programs have started submerging it in jars of flavored vinegars. Whenever I come across it, I order it immediately.

Thing is, we don't need to hold out for a creative restaurant pickler in order to try pickled rhubarb—make it yourself! Pick up a few stalks next time you see them at a farmers' market or grocery store. I like to cut the stalks into lengths that fit in the jar neatly and cut it into bite-sized pieces just before adding to a cheese plate or tossing into a grain salad.

Before You Get Started

Any variety of rhubarb works for this recipe. Don't avoid the pale green stalks, they may not look as pretty in the jar, but they make up for it in good texture and flavor.

If you like a less sweet pickle, feel free to reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe by up to half. I like the balance that it achieves as written, but the beauty of making your own pickles is that you can adjust the flavors to suit.

Make sure to save the leftover pickling liquid once all the stalks are gone; it becomes a defacto drinking vinegar during the pickling process.

Don't skip the processing step and call this one a refrigerator pickle. It needs the heat of the processing pot to develop the right texture.

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Pickled Rhubarb Stalks

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In a Pickle: Marinated Artichoke Hearts

2012-04-04T17:00:00Z

[Photographs: Marisa McClellan]

I was all of four or five years old when my parents decided I was old enough to join them in having artichokes for dinner. A willing eater from an early age (my first sentence was, "more mayonnaise, please"), I was always happy to try a new food.

The table was set with plates, napkins and the biggest mixing bowl we had, empty in the middle of the table. My mom put a steaming artichoke on each plate and gave us each a tiny bowl of melted butter with garlic. My dad taught me how to pull the leaves off, dip them in the butter and then scrape the edible flesh off each leaf with my bottom teeth.

Since that night, I have been firmly on board the artichoke bandwagon. I still like eating them just like we did that first time (though a dish of Hellman's/Best Foods Mayo spiked with grated garlic and lemon juice is also a winner when it comes to dipping), but truly, I do not discriminate when it comes to artichokes.

I like using frozen artichoke hearts in pasta and will frequently buy them from the grocery store, marinated in flavorful oil. When presented with artichoke dip, I will not say no. And in the springtime, I do love ordering them lightly fried and dressed with lemon juice from an Italian spot in my neighborhood.

Despite this lifelong appreciation for the artichoke, it wasn't until recently that I tried to trim a batch and marinate them myself. And like so many things, doing it myself increased my enjoyment many times over. These marinated artichoke hearts are light, punchy and so good dropped into a springy pasta salad.

Before You Get Started

Gather your tools for paring the artichokes. If you've never done it before, there's a really helpful slide show here.

Don't skip that tip about using some lemon halves in your artichoke water. They start to brown the minute you cut into them, so keep that acid handy. Some artichoke lovers swipe a lemon slice across every cut to prevent browning, though I never go that far.

Know that trimming artichokes down to their hearts is hard work. If you want all the taste without the work, frozen artichoke hearts are quite good and a heck of a lot easier to work with.

Once the artichokes are in the jar and covered with their pickling liquid, tuck the jar into the fridge and let it mellow for at least a day. They need some time to become one with the pucker of the vinegar.

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Marinated Artichoke Hearts

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