As I read through A Book of Salt, my mind went immediately to my favorite Vietnamese food, banh mis, and brought me to Atlanta last summer where I begrudgingly tried it for the first time (I am sort of a picky eater). Normally, I would pick out the carrots, onions, and daikon, but I decided to try it with an open mind and was so incredibly surprised by the complex flavors and the pop of acidic flavor that the pickled vegetables punched. As I read, I wondered where the origin of pickling came from and wanted to explore it more.
Pickling began 4,000 years ago and started with cucumbers in India (Grimaldi). Interestingly enough, pickling served to preserve food and was used for long sea voyages. The term pickle is derived from the Dutch word “pekel” which means brine (Grimaldi). Pickling can be done with brine as the name suggests or can be done with any type of vinegar and can store food for months on end. Pickling is essentially a form of anaerobic fermentation Most people tend to add other ingredients to their pickling solution to enhance the flavor such as garlic, dill, mustard, hot peppers, salt.
*Tip: reusing pickling solution once you have eaten all the contents of the jar will enhance the flavor of the next batch of pickled food. My mom likes to add slivered habanero and a dash of sugar to her pickled onions that she keeps in the refrigerator and serves with empanadas.*
Pickling is not done exclusively to cucumbers as it is the common association in the United States but can be done with many other vegetables including onion, carrots, daikon, cabbage (see: sauerkraut or kimchi), etcetera.
Also, feel free to check out this cool Pickle History Timeline I found here
Works Cited
Grimaldi, Julia. “History of Pickling.” Mass Great Outdoors Blog, 6 Aug. 2014, blog.mass.gov/greatoutdoors/education/history-of-pickling/.
Hi Jae, thanks for this post about pickling. The act of pickling to me seems so aligned with the act of preservation and our discussions of archives. Food to endure temporality and history…
Banh mis are also striking to me as they are considered a classic, iconic Vietnamese dish when in fact it is a dish within the container of French colonialism (baguette!).
I love this post because it made me remember how much I love pickled foods. My dad and I recently pickled some daikon at home over the summer, and he was so excited about how good they turned out. In Korea, fried chicken always comes with a side of pickled daikon, and I think it’s such an interesting Korean take on an American classic. Fried chicken first showed up in South Korea in 1977, and the owner of the franchise had studied abroad in the U.S. Traditional Korean food doesn’t have much fried foods, so many people hate greasy foods. But we have been pickling for ages, if you look at kimchi for example. The acidity and sweetness of pickled daikon adds a familiarity to the fried chicken dish and cuts the greasiness. I see this as a bit similar to Vivian’s comment above. Thanks for this post! It brought up a good memory 🙂