You may have seen a reel I posted on Instagram this October of me unboxing that week’s share of my CSA from Red Beard Farms. Check out our story about a real farm to table dinner in their greenhouse. I had to speed up part of it so I could count out the number of peppers and sweet potatoes. It was a lot. And the number increased as weeks passed.
I’ve got a dehydrator, I thought. I can make short shrift of a profusion of peppers. The last thing I wanted was for them to go bad. It’s horrible when you don’t eat fresh produce, and you have to throw it out because you live in an apartment and don’t have a compost pile. It’s worse when you know the farmer.
The next week, I went to a conference open to all those who publish an Edible magazine. The publishers come from all over North America. (Hello, Vancouver Island!) It’s such fun. We’re among our people, those with shared interests and values that include the sustainability and preservation of local food systems and stories that really can bring those issues to light.
I’ve got a dehydrator, I thought. I can make short shrift of a profusion of peppers.
This is a long way to tell you that the conference was in Santa Fe, and dried peppers were hanging everywhere in the city’s dry heat.
That got me thinking about preservation and the way it’s done in the South, where humidity and erratic weather require different methods. We have such a long growing season that produce piles up.
Thus in southeastern North Carolina most peppers end up pickled or brined. Neither require heat nor hard-to-source ingredients. When submerged in salted water and brined, vegetables are shelf stable and ready to eat. Pickling, which can include vinegar and spices and sugar, also results in food ready at the first signs of frost, when outdoor farming shuts down for the year. Fermented vegetables, like the cabbage in sauerkraut, take longer. Canning always requires heat.
I haven’t made pickles yet, but I have dehydrated a lot of pepper. Once dry, they’re easily ground into powder; fresh ingredients in your spice cabinet always taste better and last longer than those found in a grocery store.
For our gift guide, I bought a jar of picked corn from Moses Fabulous Cakes/Jams/Crafts. The corn, still on the cob, has been cut crosswise and pickled into a sweet, sour and spicy handheld treat.
The gift guide features nonperishable items one can buy at a farmers market, things that make good and unusual hostess gifts. It supports our farmers, and picklers. I think that represents all Edible Port City celebrates packed into a quart jar.
The article originally was published in the Winter 2023 issue.
