Pickling the Ramps

I wish I had a go-to pickling/brine recipe. Don't we all? No, not really? Weird.

As you may have noticed, I picked my fair share of ramps recently
and have since been attempting to cook them in just about every way possible.
Sauteed, blanched, and now...pickled.

I really am looking for a go-to, out of this world,
knock your socks off, I'm going to eat the whole jar-pickle brine,
so if anyone has one... please share!

This pickling recipe worked out pretty well but I prefer a bit less sweet. 

You may or may not know this about me, but I really fancy pickles. 

I'm usually a classic pickled cucumber fanatic but what the hell! ramps will do.

Again, I did find this just a wee bit too sweet for my liking, 

so I cut the sugar and honey down a bit for the typed up recipe.

Naturally I designed a cute little label for my jars. 

Yah, it's a damn precious jar, don't you think?

Oh jars, absolutely gorgeous glass containers. 

I'm truly in love with them. 

No icky plastic, and let's not kid ourselves, they have an undeniable look.

One glance and you just need some jars in your life.

Pickled or not. Ramps have been a fun addition to my spring produce bounty this year!

I Love Pickles

I like a lot of things, I love a couple things, and I strongly dislike a couple of things too (applesauce, cough cough) but let me tell you...I really love pickles quite a bit, there's just nothing like an awesome kosher dill or a garlicy half sour.

these pickles are courtesy of 2nd avenue deli

An ode to pickles? I could write a whole book, though I also feel a haiku is in order.

Realistically though I'm just going to give a little credit to some gentlemen I know who ventured into pickle making a few weeks back.

Not only was I invited to partake in this pickle making event (to which I eagerly rsvp'd YES) but it was a roaring success.

Good thing this went so well because last time I tried to make pickles it was a beer-induced failure.

Alex & Tyler (the pickle masters) snagged a simple recipe that you can find here.

It got altered a bit as we had no pickling spice, or dill seed so the boys opted for fresh dill, jalapeños, and some sliced onions.

 Don't forget the spice! A good deal of red pepper flakes jumped in there too, as well as black pepper.

This recipe called for apple cider vinegar but I'd love to try white vinegar and use that tasty pickle juice in a bloody mary. 

Don't you worry! Dorm-room-pickle-juice-bloody marys went down (miniature ice cubes included).

And they went down in true dorm room style...with a side of PBR and peanuts of course!

Back to the pickles though...

Sealing the jars was a bit of an obstacle with one tiny pot but uhhhh we made it work...

O'Pott's Pickles. Absolutely gorgeous...and delicious. 

Interrobang

Any idea of what the title means?!

No? well, then onward with the brew!

History seems to prove that this kid and I always have some sort of ridiculous and/or genius idea, this summer that idea was beer. And not just drinking it, we went ahead and tried to make some for ourselves.

The story begins in Brooklyn, where I stumbled upon The Brooklyn Brew Shop stand at The Brooklyn Flea. Wait, Brooklyn is great...that should be noted.

Moving on, I saw the beer making kits and was instantly in need of my own. Suddenly feeling thrifty(note to self: beer & whisky are two arenas where thriftiness is SOMETIMES absurdity) I decided not to buy the kit, later when I told my buddy about it became clear I had made the wrong decision.

Have no fear though, I went to the website and promptly ordered the Grapefruit Honey Ale Kit.

Good save because this beer was tasty. Kind of thought it wouldn't come out so edible but it was really good. Sweet and light and packed with carbonation.

Making it was fun too, I'd like to buy a refill, perhaps for thanksgiving brewing? I'm thinking IPA this time or one of the wild kinds they offer.

There were a lot of steps but nothing too challenging, we felt like we were going to screw it up so we just kept referring back to the detailed direction sheet.

I've got to throw some big thank yous over to Aaron for bottling our little beer. Sadly, I had to head back to school before that step of the process. The syphoning sounded like a blast!

Word to the wise: Don't drink the beer BEFORE you attempt to make pickles...

While some of the pictures may have turned out nice the pickles on the other hand did not.
I'm not going to say inedible or even gross but it was no great performance on our part and I'm not necessarily craving them...

I'll be rectifying the pickle mess this week. I'm going for pickled red onions this time, but until then I hope you reflect on why you have yet to attempt making your own beer.

Ok, maybe that's not necessary but I would at least go check out the The Brooklyn Brew Shop site!