Master pickling: Not about vinegar at all

I’m from Swedish extraction and adore everything pickled. The same might be true if I were, say, Japanese. Wow, do they ever have the art of pickling down.

Today, I came home after a hard morning skiing and needed a quick snack. Hmmm. Oh, yes. Pickled herring and onions between a couple nice slices of artisan whole grain bread. Not for everybody, I suppose. It’s probably an acquired taste.

Can you say: “Sunomono”? Actually, that means vinegar in Japanese, but not all pickles - and that’s a hugely generic term - involve the use of vinegar. I’m also told sunomono refers to altering without the use of heat. Makes sense.

This video really gives you a much broader understanding and appreciation of pickling:

Update on Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 14:23 by mavenandmeddler

The Cultured folks now have their products in Whole Foods, Reno. They may be in other WF stores around the west coast.

I’m hooked on the red sauerkraut. totally hooked. It is damn fresh tasting. Clear, clean flavors with the whole being a lucious sum greater than the parts.

Today my lunch was herringing in wine sauce, some artisan whole wheat bread with a schmear of lowcal butter, bread and butter pickles and the Cultured red sauerkraut. OMG. Very good, very healthy, very skinny waistline concious, very satisfying … if you’re of scandanavian extraction perhaps. It might be an acquired taste otherwise.

That’s okay, it leaves more for me.

I wish they’d get their website up and running so that potential customers could take a better look.