VintageTexas Semi-Sweet Coriander Pickles
Here’s a break from Texas wine, but for something that still has a good dose of Texas flavor. It’s my recipe for by Texas Semi-Sweet Coriander Pickles. All of the major ingredients and herbs could come from a local garden. However, this year (after losing and re-finding my recipe), I felt that it was time to gather ingredients from garden and markets.
18 Baby cucumbers (4-6 inch long)
2 Large jalapeño peppers
1 Medium sweet onion, e.g. Texas 10-15 (peeled, washed and cut into four rings, quartered and separated)
8 Large cloves garlic (pealed and halved)
1-cup Carrots (Julienned and rinsed)
10-cups Water
10-cups White vinegar
8 (Dry or Wet) Sterilized Pint Glass Bottles & Lids
Per bottle:
3 Tbsps. White granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. Pickling spice
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. Coriander seeds
¼ tsp. Celery seed (ground)
½ tsp. Fresh finely chopped cilantro (with flowers/seed, if available)
¼ tsp. Dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp. Texas wildflower honey
1 sprig Fresh dill
In this case, the cucumbers were market bought but from Texas, as were the jalapeños. My carrots from puny this year (little short runts – cute actually) and I saved them for salads. The Texas Sweet 10-15 onions weren’t in season so I went with Vidalias. Important ingredients that were from Texas were the chopped cilantro that had both flowers and seed pods (coriander) on it, wildflower honey and Mexican oregano. Now for the pickle-making procedure…
Wash cucumbers and soak in cold water. Cut cucumbers into approx. ¼ -inch slices and return to water. Wash and cut Jalapeños. Cut them longitudinally to remove ¼ to ½-inch strips while leaving the seeds and white membranes behind. Divide cucumber slices, jalapeño slices, onion sections, garlic slices and julienned carrots into eight equal amounts and tightly pack in each of the 8 bottles. To each bottle, add indicated amounts of sugar, pickling spice, salt, coriander seeds, ground celery seed, chopped cilantro, Mexican oregano, dill and Texas wildflower honey. Add water and vinegar to large pot and heat to a rolling boil. Once boiling, transfer water/vinegar solution into each jar using a ladle and a large opening funnel. Fill each bottle to rim and tightly screw on lid. Once bottles are cool enough to handle, transfer them to refrigerator and keep 1 to 3 days before serving. Should keep refrigerated for 30-60 days if they last that long.
Tip: Serve pickled cucumbers, onions, jalapeños and carrots with cilantro seeds. They give a flavorful crunch. For spicier pickles, also add desired amount of jalapeño seeds to each bottle before adding water/vinegar solution. For sweeter pickles add more honey.
