(This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal on August 2, 2012.)
By Alice Waugh
Summer at Drumlin Farm means loads of fresh vegetables and herbs—and some of them got pickled on a Friday night.
About 20 visitors sampled all sorts of veggies that had been pickled over the past week or so by Drumlin farm and food educator Allison Chuang, who led “Fermentation Friday: A Pickled Pageant” on July 27. Pickling isn’t just for cucumbers, she explained, as she handed out tasty samples of pickled radishes, carrots, peppers, green beans and other foods.
Before the advent of refrigeration, pickling (submerging food in salt water and allowing it to ferment) was just one of several food preservation methods people used around the world for centuries. For example, many cultures pickle cabbage to make foods like sauerkraut or kimchi. Fermentation is also used to make thing including beer, bread and yogurt.