Pickled Whole Carrots with Fennel, Ginger, and Mustard
If you open my fridge, you’ll find an array of pickled veggies. I usually have jars of onions, beets, green almonds, leeks… the list goes on. Their vinegary twang cuts through fat like nobody’s business. I love adding a thin layer in sandwiches of Italian meats slathered with mayonnaise. They are also a welcomed addition to a decedent charcuterie board.
For this recipe I made a trip to one of the many local farmers markets and grabbed some peak-season baby carrots, trimmed the tops, but kept them whole. You could cut them into slices, like I did in the recipe, but I think these ones look so elegant and dramatic in their original form.
The longer they sit in the fridge, the more the liquid takes on the color of the spices and veg, and the better they taste.
I combined two types of white vinegar, since dark vinegars can stain the contents. The carrots were so fresh and I wanted to keep the vibrancy of these beautiful veg. I added flavor in the form of fresh ginger and garlic, a couple different spices, and a touch of heat with red pepper flakes. With a small amount of sugar to balance out the sharpness of the vinegars, and a little time in the fridge, these carrots develop into a delightful condiment that pairs well with all kinds of dishes. I like to finely chop them up and add to an herby quinoa salad or chomp on them like chips along side a smashed chickpea and veggie wrap.
Pickled Carrots
Yield: about 3 cups
.5 cup white wine vinegar
.5 cup rice vinegar
1.5 cup filtered water
.25 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1” piece fresh ginger – sliced .25” thick rounds
2 garlic cloves – sliced 1/8” thick
.5 Tbsp fennel seed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
3 large orange carrots - .25” bias cut
In a saucepan, bring both vinegars and water to a boil.
Remove from heat, add sugar and salt, and stir to dissolve.
Add ginger, garlic, fennel seeds, salt, red pepper, and mustard seeds.
Transfer contents to a heat-proof container, like a mason jar.
At this point you can either continue to cool the pickle mixture to room temperature by letting it sit out on the counter for several hours, or gently put the container of pickle mixture into an ice bath. To do this, fill a larger bowl halfway with ice water and gently place the container of pickle mixture on top of the ice water. Stir every few minutes and the pickle mixture should cool down within 10-15 minutes.
Now put sliced carrots into the cooled pickle liquid. They should be fully submerged, but if they aren’t, top off with one/both of the vinegars. If you put the carrots into hot liquid they will soften and you won’t have super crisp pickled carrots.
Place jar into the fridge.
The carrots will be ready to enjoy in a few days, but will get even better the longer they sit in the pickle juice.
