Pickled Surprises
There are many delicious goodies around in the wild at this time of year. My new favourites are pickled Laccaria mushrooms and my accidental discovery, fermented Kei Apples.
To pickle the Laccaria, bring enough vinegar to cover the mushrooms to the boil and add a touch of salt, Rosemary, Thyme and Black Pepper to taste.
Add the mushrooms and allow the vinegar to return to the boil and cook the mushrooms until they soften.
Strain off the mushrooms and place them in jars and cover them with the vinegar mix. When cooled, add a layer of oil to the top to protect it all from oxygen and moisture. Store as you usually would short term preserves.
Kei Apples are very acidic. So acidic, in fact, that they dont need any preservatives to pickle them. Just add boiling water and seal well.
That's where I went wrong in a good way. My lids didn't seal properly and allowed air in. The Kei apples then quietly fermented.
When I opened a jar, I was met with a fountain of golden bubbles and when I put my fingers to my lips, was greeted with a remarkably tart taste. This stuff bites!
A friend told me today that pickles Saffron milk Caps are delicious pickled, so thats the adventure for next week - wild harvesting and pickling a couple of kilos.
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Sounds like you are discovering all sorts of new was to prepare and store foods! So were the apples alcoholic or more vinigary?
There would have been some alcohol, but the acidity covered any tadte of that. Its,like an exolosion of sunshine in the mouth
Sounds delicious!
Yeah I'm interested in this, did you make a tart moonshine?
Never pickled mushrooms but I'd love to give it a go. Once I fermented okra. In glass jar. Like an idiot. They created tiny little ticking timebombs as the slime expanded! Oops! I'm going to try this mushroom recipe though!
Ive got to try pickled okra this summer!