The Pickle Blog

The Greenmarkets of New York are terrific when it comes to seasonal things.  Right now we are smack in the middle of the Annual Tuber Moment.   If you like potatoes, there are dozens of studly spuds from which to choose.  Seasonality is but one of Greenmarket’s pleasures.  Another is the wide range of esoteric items that you just don’t find in run-of-the-mill shopping environments.  Which brings me to the miniature Mexican sour cucumber.

A precious horde of little green beauties.

In size similar to a large jelly bean, in appearance not unlike a funky watermelon, they are available at the Windfall Farms stand, where they are sold by the quarter pound.  Sour is truth in advertising here.  A tiny bite into one will have you convinced that they have magically been infused with some form of citrus.  And that bite definitely delivers a satisfying crunch, as these tender beauties have a surprisingly firm skin.

This cherry tomato gives a good approximation of scale.

I could have just put them in a nutbowl and chomped through my entire stash by halftime of whatever football game was on.  But being a pickle man, I had no choice.   I had to pickle these guys.  First, I mixed the cukes with a few square-cut chunks of red bell pepper.  Square peppers against the oval cucumbers gives the finished product a nice contrast of shapes; the redness and the greenness of the two always leads to a highly complimentary pairing.  Then, it was on to the brine.  Since the cukes possess a distinctive flavor on their own, the brine needed to be subtle and uncomplex, a good supporting amniotic fluid in which the veggies could luxuriate.  I decided to make this recipe a quick refrigerator pickle, and not process in a boiling water bath, as I had a limited supply of the raw ingredients and I was not confident they would retain their structure after pasteurization.  So I made a simple brine of  O’s citrus champagne vinegar mixed with premium white grape juice from Barrington Cellars.  I also added a generous tablespoon of juniper berries to lend an aromatic note to the proceedings.  This went down as one of the world’s fastest pickle productions in history… my yield was ONE quart jar.  The good news is it took less than a minute to pack the jar and only a few for the brine to heat to a boil.

Quite possibly the world's smallest batch of brine ever produced.

After pouring the brine over the cucumber mixture, I put the lid on and let the jar settle to room temperature.  Then it was into the fridge, where it has rested now for five days.  I’ll give it another couple of days to pickle before I dive in.  However, I don’t need another minute to work on the name for this pickle.  There is only one possibility: Sexy Mexys.  Check back in a couple of days and I’ll tell you how they came out.

My latest creation is the definition of one-of-a-kind.

SEXY MEXYS

1 pound Mexican sour cucumbers

1 small red bell pepper

8 ounces O Champagne Citrus vinegar (6% acidity)

8 ounces white grape juice (from Barrington Cellars if you can get it)

1 tablespoon juniper berries.

1.  Rinse the cucumbers.

2.  Cut the bell pepper into half-inch squares.  Mix with the cucumbers at  a 1:10 ratio (favoring the cucumbers).  Pack into a quart canning jar.

3.  Mix the vinegar, grape juice and juniper berries in a pot and bring to a boil.  Pour immediately over the cucumber mixture.

4.  Cap the jar and let the contents settle to room temperature.  Refrigerate for a week and then enjoy as a tasty, healthy snaqck while watching football or movies.