Kelly Rossiter
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Whenever I ask myself how people can live in this world and not see environmental degradation, and how it relates to their behavior, I just have to think of my own mother. She was a young woman in the '50s when everything seemed possible. It was a time you could smoke and drink as much as you liked, eat whatever you wanted, a time when you could move your family out to the suburbs onto big grassy lots and happily drive to get a quart of milk.
I grew up on a suburban cul de sac and my parents' house is situated on a lot that would fit three houses from my downtown street. I have to say, it was great as a kid because we all had massive lawns to play on and our parents never had to worry about traffic, because the street was a dead-end. Now when I look at my mother's expanse of lawn, I just think about what better use it could have. My husband jokes that if she used just a third of her yard as a community vegetable garden, she could feed the whole street. But she wouldn't, because she would never give up her grass, and she takes it as a personal affront that she is no longer allowed to use herbicides to keep weeds out of her lawn.
She grudgingly carved out a little vegetable patch at the side of the house (so it wouldn't ruin her view of the flower garden she worked so hard on) and let me grow a few little things when I was a teenager. She has kept it up over the years out of habit, but now she she just grows some carrots, beets and tomatoes. This year she got the carrot and beet seeds in, but wasn't well enough to get out and thin them properly, so she ended up with tons of adorable tiny carrots and itsy bitsy beets. She couldn't see the point in picking them, but I couldn't stand to see them go to waste, so I harvested them the other day and decided to pickle them. I got just two jars of pickles, so I decided not to bother with a water bath. I'll give a jar to my son and keep one, and we can just eat them this week once they've had a few days for the pickling to work.
You can do simple pickling like this anytime, with any vegetables. Leave them a couple of days for the flavours to infuse the vegetables, keeping them refrigerated and eat them within a week or so. My son has been growing hot bird's-eye chilies in his garden, so I walked to his place this morning and pinched a few for my pickles to give them a bit of heat.
Pickled Carrots
4 cups carrots, washed well and any blemishes cut off
1 cup cider vinegar (make sure it is 5% acidity)
1 cup water
1 tbsp pickling spice
Add anything you like for flavour, such as salt, bay leaves, coriander seeds, anise seeds, whole cloves, whole chilies, or crushed chilies
1. Wash 2 pint jars in hot soapy water. Add any herbs or chilies you like to each jar.
2. In a medium pot bring a pot of water to boil. Add carrots. For a crunchy pickle, blanch carrots, drain and add to jars. If you want a softer pickle, cook the carrots for a few more minutes.
3. In a small pot bring the vinegar, water and pickling spice to a boil and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Pour over carrots, making certain you distribute the spices evenly. Allow to cool and then refrigerate.
Difficulty Level: Easy
More Preserving Recipes
Preserving the Harvest: Grape Jelly
Preserving the Harvest: Marinated Red Peppers
Preserving the Harvest: Pickled Cauliflower
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