Pickled Carrots

Ingredients

• 300 grams of carrots (or any other vegetable)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp of oregano (or any other herbs that you enjoy)
• a few peppercorns
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

Method

• The first step is to sterilize the mason jars. This can be done by placing them in boiling water for about 15 minutes. It is essential to do this for all preserves.
• Wash the carrots well. Remove any dirt on them.
• In the mason jar, drop garlic cloves, oregano, peppercorns and the carrots.
• In a pot, add vinegar, water, salt and sugar and dissolve well.
• Keep this mixture on high heat until it comes to a boil.
• Once it comes to a boil, drop this mixture in the mason jar which contains the carrots.
• For maximum flavor, refrigerate this for 48 hours before consumption.

My ingredient

This method of pickling that I recently discovered is very different from the methods that have been practiced in my country. I wanted to give it a try by making a simple pickle of carrots. This will eventually help me understand the flavors in it and I can try this method with other ingredients. I chose baby-cut carrots because of their perfect size for pickling and so that I would not have to peel or cut them.

My method

The method that I used for this recipe is known as quick pickle. This is also known as refrigerated pickle. The flavor is not as deep as fermented pickles, but they require only few days before being eaten. They do not need canning while refrigerating. I found this recipe on thekitchn.com ( http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-quick-pickle-any-vegetable-233882 )

Sensory evaluation

1 How does it appeal to the five basic tastes?

• Definitely the first flavor that hits you is the sourness carried with the vinegar. But after a few moments I could also identify a little sweetness given out by the carrot. The oregano and the black pepper are noticeable as they add more depth to the flavor.

2 Using senses of taste, smell and texture, what do you observe?

• As discussed before, sourness was the flavor heavily dominating the product. The carrots however, even being in the liquid for a while, still had a bit of a crisp to their texture. Every bite is enjoyable to have.

3 Are there similar flavors that you detect?

• The taste of the vinegar reminds me of a dish back home made out of pig offals called sorpotel. It is a savory dish heavily dominated with the taste of vinegar. Other than that this entire mixture was a new experience for me.

4 How is the food unique?

• For me, it is unique in the sense that I tried it for the first time. The use of herbs to flavor something that will be eaten cold was very unique for me.

5 What I would do differently?

The next time I want to try this technique, I would want to experiment with more spices and sauces (eg. soya sauce).

Thank you for reading my blog. This was the first time in my life that I have ever tried to pickle something, and I had fun doing that and learnt many things along the way.