Broccoli Pickles

Just a quickie here as I want to share my broccoli pickles I made this weekend! I was craving something pickle-y that wasn't in a jar made by someone else and overly brined and soft, my own fast healthy crisp pickle fix! I used broccoli because I had some leftover from a dinner on Friday that I had already cut up, so I threw it in a jar (I am one of those people that keeps almost all jars after their product is used, I wash them and store for future use of my own concoctions, very handy, good recycling use, and a cheap solution). I added a mix of rice vinegar, sugar, coarse sea salt, and Japanese chili powder, just enough to coat it all when I shook it up. I let the broccoli sit in the jar for two days, shaking it up a few times a day to coat it all again. Today I felt a bit nauseous from staying up too late and having a bit too much wine at a party and this worked perfectly, vinegar cuts nausea wonderfully when it's liver-related. In TCM, broccoli is a cooling vegetable which is handy in treating hot conditions (some examples are red eyes and heat stroke), and is also rich in chlorophyll the less you cook it - the brief pickling is perfect as it is still raw. Vinegar is warming in nature and benefits the liver as the taste which treats the liver is sour. I will do a whole posting on vinegar in the future but for now, that will suffice as it served my purpose well today: I was up late and had a bit too much wine (which created a "hot condition") and my liver was likely feeling sluggish - this pickled broccoli helped me feel 100 times better because of the broccoli cooling my "hot condition" and the vinegar waking up the liver. I had no idea I would be needing it when I spontaneously made it on Friday! I think I may keep some in the fridge for future use.


The jar with the raw broccoli.


Vinegar mix.


Vinegar + the broccoli (shaken).


The broccoli, slightly pickled but still crisp, two days later.

If you want to read more about pickles, there is a wonderful blog called "Pickle Freak" which I enjoy: http://www.picklefreak.com/