Easy Spicy Pickled Carrots

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/clayirving/2662074750/, used under Creative Commons.

I know that I’ve mentioned my possibly unhealthy love of pickles. I’ve pickled green beans, pickled cauliflower, and even sweet and sour “classic” cucumber pickles.

This is the exact same brine recipe from the Sweet and Sour Pickles, but by sticking different flavorings in the jar, I ended up with a completely different concoction.

Here’s the recipe that I came up with.

They’re stored in half-pint mason jars.

Ingredients

• About 4 carrots, sliced into long, thin strips
• 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Dried red chiles
• 2 cups basic white vinegar (no fancy vinegars here)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar (most recipes call for more; I like to keep mine a little bit tangy)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp green peppercorns
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Instructions

Using a medium sauce pot, bring the vinegar, sugar, salt and spices to a near-boil. Turn the stove off and set the pan aside to cool for 15 minutes.

In the bottom of each jar, add two red chiles, a shake of red pepper flakes and several slices of onion. Tightly pack the carrot sticks into the jars.

Using a wide-mouth funnel, carefully pour the pickling brine into the jar, leaving about 1/4″ (6 mm) of space at the top of the jar. Add the lids and allow the jars to cool completely before refrigerating. They’ll be ready to eat in a week, and good for about a month in the fridge.

Results

I didn’t even attempt to feed these to the Tiny Kitchen Assistant, considering that “spicy” and “pickle” were pretty much the intersection of his two biggest food aversions. Nonetheless, these were a surprise hit with the adults, and have such a different flavor from the Sweet and Sour Pickles that you’d never know that they came from the same basic brine.

Tags: carrots, meatless, pickle, Recipe, stovetop, vegetable, veggie

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