Vinegar Pickled Carrots — Fridge or Shelf-Stable

Ingredients

• 2–3 lbs fresh Sweet Nante carrots
• 12 oz Persimmon Vinegar
• 12 oz filtered or distilled water
• 1 oz kosher or sea salt (2 tbsp + 2 tsps if using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, 1½ tbsp if using a denser sea salt)
• 1 tbsp sugar (completely optional, but helps to balance acidity of the pickle brine)
• Optional spice blend per jar, feel free to improvise: 1 sprig fresh tarragon, 1 sprig fresh thyme, ¼ tsp whole black pepper, ⅛ tsp mustard seed, ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper, ⅛ tsp celery seed, 2 whole allspice

Instructions

1. Trim and wash (scrub really) your carrots, but do not peel them. Some people like to peel them, but I feel that they look better, taste better and have a more natural look if you leave them with the skin in tact. You can chose what shape to cut them in, but I like quartered sticks for snacking. Cut to size so that they fit nicely in the jar you have chosen.
2. Distribute your chosen spices in the jars. You can increase or the quantities depending on how flavorful you want them. Be careful with the allspice and celery seed if you use them as a little goes a long way. For allspice, more than just 2 or 3 peppercorns will be very distinct in your final product. Add the fresh tarragon and thyme. If you want these fresh ingredients to be visually distinct in your jars, tilt the jar in your hand while you lay the fresh herbs along the side of the jar and then layer some carrots on top of them to hold the herbs against the side of the jar. This will make for a nice presentation if you are giving these as gifts. Continue to fill the remainder of the jar with your carrots until tightly packed. If you have some small carrot pieces left over, use these to top off the remainder of the jar without going above the fill line. Most canning style jars have an apparent ring near the top of the jar about 1⁄₂” or so from the top for this purpose.
3. To prepare the brine, combine all of the brine ingredients in a pot and heat until the salt and sugar are dissolved. The sugar in this recipe is optional as there is already a touch of sweetness that comes off of the vinegar and from the carrots if you have some good ones. I like the little bit of sugar to help balance out the acidity of the vinegar, but it’s completely optional.
4. There are two methods of quick pickle preparation that you can choose depending on how you like your pickles. You can either heat the brine to boiling and then pour over your pickles and place in the fridge after they cool down a bit (an hour or so). Or, you can pour your brine (heat enough to dissolve the solids, but not necessary boiling) over your pickles leaving ¼” headspace, then place the lids on securely and put in a canner (a pot of boiling water) with the jars completely immersed for 8 minutes.
5. The refrigerator method will leave you with a very fresh and crisp pickle, but it will take a few days for the flavors to develop and the jars must remain in the fridge until you eat them.
6. For refrigerator pickles, I would suggest giving them 3-4 days at a minimum in order for the flavors to penetrate the carrots.
7. For this recipe I actually would suggest using the hot water bath method for a couple of reasons. Doing the hot water bath will not only make them shelf stable so that you can put them in the pantry and give them as gifts, but the extra bit of heat will allow the flavors to more fully penetrate the carrots. Since carrots are so crunchy by nature, that little bit of heat is good to soften them up a touch, but still leave them quite crunchy. If using the hot water bath process, let cool overnight and enjoy as early as the next day.
8. Enjoy!