Winter is Coming: Pickling

Steven and I finally started watching Game of Thrones (now that everyone else has just finished). Watching a show like this, set in a pseudo-Medieval era, raises a question: If you were really committed, could you actually live off the land?

I think that the answer is YES, but:

• You would have to spend most of your waking hours looking for food

• You would have to be willing to engage in preservation practices--pickling, canning, drying--does anyone remember root cellars?

• You would almost certainly have to be willing to catch and eat meat and fish. Which I totally am--I have my eye on those geese that live in the highway medians!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm lazy. BUT, writing this blog has made me feel a responsibility to at least give some of these preservation methods a try. My first attempt: Pickles.

I wasn't about to go to the trouble of actually canning: boiling jars and lids, those creepy rubber rings. . . . I went the easy way, refrigerator pickles. (Which of course assumes you have modern conveniences such as refrigerators, which, in the early agrarian period, you wouldn't). I used this recipe, from thekitchn.com. Here's what I brined, clockwise from top:

Pickled Burdock stalks, Purslane stems, Daylily buds, Daisy buds

Burdock stalks, Purslane stems, Daylily buds, Daisy buds. The wiry looking stuff on top is Peppergrass. I threw in some chive flowers too.

I was pleased that pickling Daylily buds seems to cancel the stomach problems I previously experienced with them. Purslane is so easy going; of course it was great. The Daisy buds came out well, and pickling them cut down any too-strong flavors.

peeling burdock stem

At the top are Burdock stalks. Do you remember how excited I was about them, stir-fried in butter? I'm sorry to report that they were not pickling material. I peeled all of the outer skin (there must be tannin in the stems--I swear my hands are not that dirty). Soaking in brine only made them more pithy. I'll sautée them in butter from now on.

Confession: I don't actually love pickles. Not being a pickle-lover, I couldn't help but wonder: Does preserving vegetables in this way reduce their nutritional value? Fear not: https://www.livestrong.com/article/536144-does-pickling-vegetables-take-away-the-nutrition/

So if you really needed to find a way to eat through winter, pickling seems to be one good option. Just about any of the wild edibles I've presented so far could be preserved this way; probably the denser, the better. Though pickled greens. . . sauerkraut. . . . Hmm. . . .

If you really want to know what it's like to live off the land, I highly recommend a series produced by PBS, Frontier House. Here's the description:

This six-part hands-on history series took three modern-day families back in time to live like 1880s homesteading pioneers in Montana. The families headed west in May 2001 and resided there until October, with just the tools of the period at their disposal. Throughout their historic adventure, the families trials, triumphs, simple pleasures, and daily rigors were revealed.

And much better for you brain than Game of Thrones :-)