A new pickle (and also a ferment) in our vast collection of fermented goodies.
The term "pickle" can be a bit confusing. An online article in Taste of Home, titled "What is a pickle?" clarifies it a bit.
"The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a pickle as “an article of food that has been preserved in brine or in vinegar.” It goes on to say, “specifically: a cucumber that has been so preserved,” but that doesn’t mean that pickles are always cucumbers.
The word pickle likely comes from pekel, the Dutch word for brine, and pickles were historically made by submerging vegetables in salt-water brine. This process creates lactic acid, creating an environment that’s too acidic for bacteria to grow. Today, we refer to these pickles as lacto-fermented vegetables, but many pickles are made with salt and vinegar brine instead. The vinegar reduces the pick’s sour, fermented flavor while increasing its acidic presence. There are several different types of pickles, like gherkin, bread and butter, and sour pickles, and they differ depending on the ingredients that make up the brine."
Indian (or South Indian) pickles "also known as Avalehikā, Pachchadi, Achaar (sometimes spelled as Aachaar), Athaanu, Loncha, Oorugaai, or Aavakaai is a pickled food, native to the Indian subcontinent, made from a variety of vegetables and fruits, preserved in brine, vinegar, or edible oils along with various Indian spices." (Wikipedia)
Those pickles are very popular on the Indian subcontinent and they are usually made in summertime and the warmth of the sun helps those pickles mature. Kind of in the same way as the Preserved Lemons are made in the Mediterranean region.
Some of the better known Indian pickles include limes, lemons, mango, or ginger, as the main ingredient and a variety of spices.
The spices might vary, but usually chili peppers are always used.
Our version is made with lemon peels.
Lemon peel is the skin of a lemon, and it is a part that is usually discarded, once the juice has been squeezed. Sometimes, the outer yellow skin is grated and used in desserts and other things.
And that is something that we wanted to change, since lemon peel contains many bioactive compounds which can provide numerous health benefits. And that's been confirmed by multiple studies.
Here are just few things that are present: vitamin C, and several antioxidants, including D-limonene, several minerals (like calcium and potassium), flavonoids and pectin. Because of those compounds, lemon peel has antibacterial properties that may block the growth of microorganisms responsible for oral diseases. Those several antioxidants protect the immune system and reduce your risk of disease. For more benefits, please click here.
And here's how we make it.
We obviously use Organic (BIO) lemons for that. To find out why, please check our Preserved Lemons blog entry.
Those we coat with unrefined sea salt.
And turmeric.
Next, comes the chili powder.
And then, we freshly toast fenugreek seeds. Those, besides contributing to the overall flavor, also add extra health benefits.
After slightly toasting them, we grind them up, before adding them to our lemons.
Next, we mix everything up.
And the whole mixture goes into glass jars.
From now on, it will take about two months for this pickle to be ready.
Our follow-up batches will mature a bit longer, like this one below, which we will keep for at least six months before it goes into retail jars.
So, after two months our first lemons are ready.
Here, we have few bubbles after opening one of those jars.
They are absolutely delicious and they have a perfect balance of lemon flavor, saltiness and spiciness. So now, we transfer them into our small retail jars (225 gr).
And now, they are all set for sale.
Since we don't make them too spicy, one can easily eat half a jar at a seating.
And finally the label.
Ingredients: Lemons, Unrefined Sea Salt, Turmeric, Chili Powder, Fenugreek and Filtered Water
To purchase / zum Kaufen klicke bitte unten.