Last fall, farmstand pickles gleamed like jewels at farmers’ markets and harvest fairs. Glass jars were filled with plump watermelon rind pickles or vibrantly green dilly beans. Slender whole pods of okra were displayed near Rubenesque pickled peach halves. Bread and butter cucumber slices colored nearly neon. Garlic dill spears stood like sober sentinels, livened by bits of hot red pepper flakes. But this year, pickled farm veggies may be hard to find.
Stymied by conflicting state and local health ordinances and licensing requirements, some farmers at St. Louis County markets will not sell canned products this season. Locally produced artisan foods have created a strong enough presence in the food distribution system to come under increased scrutiny from health departments throughout the state. Unfortunately, the regulations regarding production and sales aren’t standardized.
“Farmers’ markets have gone well beyond selling produce,” said Gerrin Cheek Butler, food and environmental manager for the St. Louis County Department of Health. Smoked meats, fresh cheeses, baked products, milled grains, nut butters, jellies, jams, salsas and pickles add depth and vibrancy to the shopping experience. Butler wants to make sure these foods are safe.
Health inspectors are concerned that improper canning procedures may promote growth of the bacterium that causes botulism. Though rare, the paralytic illness can be fatal. From 2004 to 2009, six cases occurred in St. Louis County.
“The state of Missouri does allow sales of reduced-oxygen, low-acid canned products from a licensed, approved source. The producer must also file … a hazard analysis critical control point plan for each product,” she said.
Butler said special classes and training aren’t necessary to file HACCP plans. She allowed, however, that completing the forms can be daunting. “If a farmer or a restaurant chef wants to do the hard work to write the plan, my staff and I will be available to assist,” she said.
But there’s still plenty of good news for pickle-lovers. Fresh-made pickles, never canned, are plentiful at area restaurants. Good thing, since pickling is a burgeoning national food trend. Chefs don’t need a hazard plan or a special license to dish up delicious pickles, city or county.
Andy White, chef at The Schafly Tap Room, offers house-made seasonal pickled vegetables on the meat and cheese plate appetizer. “I make fresh pickles in small 1-gallon batches,” said White. “We brine them, pickle and then refrigerate. They don’t last long. Maybe a week. Then we make more.
“I’ll use lemon and thyme with asparagus,” he said. “Curry with cauliflower, red onions with red wine vinegar and garlic, carrots with star anise, squash in a vinegary pickling brine.” The perfect complement for cheeses and sausages.
Making fresh pickles at home is easy. They aren’t processed and sealed, and they don’t require much equipment. If you have a saucepan and a refrigerator, you’re equipped.
Just about any vegetable or fruit can be pickled, even underripe bananas. Beans, beets, carrots, celery, peppers hot and sweet, onions, cabbages, okra, pumpkin, ginger, lemons, pears – apples to zucchini, it’s probably been pickled.
Spices vary, but the basics include yellow and brown mustard seeds, turmeric, bay leaves, hot red pepper flakes, dill, garlic, star anise, fennel seeds, peppercorns, cinnamon and cardamom. Salt should be noniodized table salt or coarse kosher salt. (Iodized salt can cause darkening and cloudiness in pickles.) Vinegars – distilled white, cider, red or white wine, rice wine, white balsamic, even flavored vinegars – all have a place in the pickling pantheon.
Testing pickles was a puckery pleasure. Everyone liked the zucchini pickles. Bread and butter sharp, beautifully chartreuse, they invite forkfuls and seconds. Pickled carrots, pungent with garlic, fennel and bay leaves, crunched crisp and lingered in the nose and on the tongue. Radishes were transformed to a radiant pink by rice wine vinegar, made piquant with toasted black peppercorns and yellow mustard seeds. But the taste transformation most likely to surprise goes to the pickled red grapes; these cinnamon-scented pickles tasted almost like very tart cherries.
Fall is a great time for pickles. Buy them from farmers when you can, try them in local restaurants or make your own. Just indulge. Your taste buds will thank you.
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This article appears in Oct 1-31, 2009.