[Sca-cooks] Pickles (was Re: Weird food)

[David Walddon]

Did you make the pickled figs?
They sound great.
If so can you share the recipe.
Thanks
David

________________________________________________________

Food is life. May the plenty that graces your table truly be a VAST  
REPAST.

David Walddon
david at vastrepast.com
www.vastrepast.com
web.mac.com/dwalddon


On Jul 18, 2008, at 11:43 AM, Dragon wrote:

> Laureen Hart wrote:
>
>> If there was lots and it wasn't likely to be eaten quick enough  
>> mom would
>> pickle it or freeze it. Mom always said pickling everything was a  
>> Midwest thing.
>> I suspect it was also a "not much money" thing.
> ---------------- End original message. ---------------------
>
> I think it is more accurate to say it is a pre-refrigeration-era- 
> world-wide thing.
>
> People salted, pickled, dried, smoked and otherwise preserved foods  
> so they would have them out of season and through the winter. About  
> the only places this did not happen are in areas where salt was not  
> easily obtained or in hunter/gatherer societies.
>
> Pickles aren't just cucumbers, that is a rather American mind set.  
> You can pickle just about anything. Look at the gigantic variety of  
> pickled vegetables in Asian cultures, India, Russia and just about  
> any place you can think of that has ready access to large  
> quantities of salt.
>
> I am trying to find the details but I once read an account of how  
> one war during the Shogunate period in Japan was actually cut short  
> by one side cutting off the supply of salt to the other. Without  
> the flow of salt from the seashore to the inland province, the  
> farmers could not preserve enough food for the winter and would  
> suffer famine.
>
> We take salt for granted these days in the industrialized world. It  
> is ubiquitous and cheap (it was not always so, sometimes it was a  
> very dear commodity) and many of its uses in food preservation have  
> gone by the way side in our modern society. Which is a shame in my  
> opinion because many of the foods that were once preserved through  
> pickling and salting were quite delicious in their own right. The  
> developing world still maintains many of these traditions because  
> they have to in order to survive.
>
> I once served pickled figs at a dinner. They were looked at with  
> much suspicion by many of the diners but those who were daring  
> enough to try them generally liked them. I had the advantage of all  
> of my guests being personal friends who were familiar with my  
> culinary skills and who generally have a slight bit more  
> adventurousness than the average Joe or Jane. Out of the 20 people  
> there, I think all but about two tried them and the majority  
> thought they were "strange but strangely good".
>
>
> Dragon
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  Venimus, Saltavimus, Bibimus (et naribus canium capti sumus)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
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