Pickled okra - a month well spent

It looks like a science experiment. It's not meant to be that colour. It comes in a jar bigger than your head. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you pickled okra.

This was one of the first recipes I cooked up from the Jams, Pickles and Preserves my ma and pa gave me for Christmas. It's taken me this long to post about it because you have to let the okra sit for a month before you get to actually eat it.

The only downside for pickled okra is that month-long wait - the actual making of it is devilishly simple: boil up some vinegar, okra, coriander, chilli and fried onions, bottle it, and you're away. Easy.

If you're not an okra lover, this isn't the dish to convince you of its redeeming features. Most okra-phobes fear it on the basis of its sliminess and if that sounds like you, you're not going to like this recipe okra one tiny wee bit. If you are an okra fan though, you might just love it even more once it's been left in the cupboard for a few weeks to keep improving. Serious.


After staring up at the bottled okra for a month like a Dickensian orphan outside a baker's shop at Christmas time, I finally got to crack into it.

It was a wonder - a nice toothsome resistance to the okra itself, light spice from the coriander seeds, and a nice sharp tang that meant I could happily use it as a side dish, on oatcakes, or just out of the jar with a spoon when I thought no-one was looking.

I was quietly impressed. Alright, not so quietly - I think I ate the whole jar in a matter of days.

So, you're thinking, 'but why's it black?' Yeah, that's my bad. Turns out that using Swedish black salt may not have been the sharpest idea...

Comments

  1. Intriguing! We are seriously into pickling and preserving stuff around here, too! May have to try this with the okra once it's in season at my farm (I'll have to pick it as they don't put it in the CSA boxes :-)

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  2. My boyfriend might be into trying this. He loves pickles (I don't) so this really makes me want to try and make it for him.

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  3. Interesting, I didn't know okra could be pickled! I haven't played with okra much as it's a bit pricey over here and the sliminess has put me off on occasion. Good on you for waiting so long to reap the rewards, that part is never easy!

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  4. I love okra! Although I've always been a bit scared of pickling, it sounds like a lot of work -- or perhaps it's mainly just the waiting and not too much upfront work?

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  5. Hmmm. Perhaps I should be one of those that heeds your warning about not making this if not an okra fan. :)

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  6. I've never tried okra, pickled or otherwise. I've always been worried that I would make something with it, it would be super slimy and that would be the end of my okra escapades. Maybe I should start with buying some pickled stuff and work my way up to the fresh stuff.

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