There’s Something About Pickles – Horseradish Pickles

Once, when my son was young, I went to pick him up at the Long Island Fall Festival, but on the periphery, so as not to get entangled with traffic. As I drove up, he was walking down the street with his friend Sam and Sam’s father; none of them talking, just slurping pickles, one after the other from a quart-size container.

Pickles are one of the main attractions at the three-day Fall Festival held every October in Huntington where I live. While there are many other things to do in the 18-acre Heckscher Park during the Festival – rides, music, food, vendors – the longest line always seems to be at the pickle booth.

Perhaps there is something about Huntington and pickles. Maybe it’s the same elsewhere, but people here seem to really like pickles.

A few miles from our house, there is an old farm that hosts a pickle festival every September. Not much else happens at this farm (not even growing a whole lot of food), except for once a year you can’t pass through the neighborhood because the crowds are too busy eating pickles.

And at our weekly farmer’s market there is a pickle vendor, which is, again, the most popular booth among them all. They have at least a dozen varieties from kosher dill and half sour, to full sour, sweet, and spicy jalapeño. Whole pickles, halves, spears, and chips, all in five-gallon buckets ready to be scooped into whatever size container you choose. Often they sell sauerkraut and marinated mushrooms, and sometimes if you catch them at the right season, they have pickled sugar snap peas or green beans. While I love half sours, my favorite are the horseradish pickles. Crisp and cold with a sinus-clearing jolt. They are excellent.

This year, as summer wore on and the abundance of cucumbers in my garden increased to pyramids piled high in the refrigerator, I needed to find a way to use them. I had already made cucumbers into all of my usual recipes and the numbers were still rising. I figured, “Why not make pickles? That’s how the rest of the world extends the season of their crops.”

As I pondered what type to make, I recalled a knob of fresh horseradish I had randomly purchased at a local farm stand earlier in the year. I don’t know why I bought it and had no plans for it when I did, but it was sitting in the back of the refrigerator, waiting for just such a moment.

I ground up a piece and added it to a canning jar with a few slivered cloves of garlic and a squeeze of brown mustard. I stuffed in sliced cucumbers and submerged them in a simple brine. Then I stacked them into the refrigerator, and I waited. After a week, I gave them a try. They were delicious; crisp and cold with that sinus-clearing jolt. And I thought to myself, “There really is something about pickles.”

Horseradish Pickles

These pickles are refrigerator pickles; they are not properly canned pickles that are shelf-stable. However, they will last a few weeks in the refrigerator. Use a new 1-quart canning jar, or boil a previously used one and its lid, completely submerged in water for 5 minutes to sterilize it.

Makes 1 quart, 20 minutes, plus 1 week fermenting

1½ – 2 lbs. pickling cucumbers (like Kirbys)

2-inch piece of fresh horseradish or 3 heaping tablespoons prepared white horseradish

2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. spicy brown mustard

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

2 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. sugar

1. Wash cucumbers thoroughly in cold water. If small enough, use them whole. If too large or irregularly shaped, slice cucumbers into halves, spears, or chips. Whole will probably last longer in the refrigerator because of the skin.
2. If using fresh horseradish, finely grate, or chop into pieces and grind in a food processor to the consistency of course sand. Be careful as the odor of freshly ground horseradish can be quite powerful.
3. Add mustard, half of the horseradish, and a few slices of garlic to jar. Pack cucumbers into jar, adding remaining garlic slices interspersed among cucumbers, leaving about a half inch of space at the top of the jar. Add remaining horseradish on top.
4. Prepare the brine. Add vinegar, water, kosher salt, and sugar to a pot and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
5. Place jar in a sheet pan or pot to catch any brine that spills. Pour hot brine into jar, filling completely to the top. (There should be extra brine, which can be discarded.) Allow the brine to cool, then seal jar with top, rinse and dry jar, and place in the refrigerator. Once or twice a day turn jar to evenly disburse horseradish. Pickles are ready in about a week and will last a few weeks, refrigerated.

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