Will the Real pickle girl Please Stand up?

In what, admittedly, was pure narcissism, I Googled "pickle girl" with the hope that maybe--just maybe--somebody besides Ned reads this blog. I was gobsmacked to learn pickle girl (ahem... the real pickle girl), has an evil twin--one Maury has the chutzpah to call Pickle Girl.

If you want a good laugh, check out what is either heinous acting or an honest-to-goodness phobia of pickles.

Pickles in the News: The Electric Kool-Aid Pickle Test

I've decided it's high time pickle girl shared news from the world of pickles beyond the pantry. Yesterday's NY Times article on Kool-Aid dill pickles in towns along the Mississippi Delta inspired me to get on my Mason jar box and say it loud... power to the pickle.

Here's a telling snippet from the article:

But she did eat dill pickles impaled on peppermint sticks, and she remembers how friends sucked the juice from cut lemons through peppermint sticks repurposed as straws. “That’s the same kind of taste,” she said. “Same as how they used to dip pickle spears in dry Kool-Aid mix for that pucker.”

Ramping up

Pickled ramps seem to be ubiquitous in foodie cirles these days, so it's no surprise these wild, fledgling leeks are easier to find with every passing spring. If you live in NYC, you'll find ramps at your local Greenmarket through May. They can also be found at Whole Foods, Chelsea Produce, and Garden of Eden.

The following recipe for sweet pickled ramps is adapted from Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef:

1 pound ramps, cleaned and trimmed
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. coriander seed
1 tsp. fennel seed
1 tsp. red peppercorns
1 bay leaf

1. Combine the vinegar and sugar with 1 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the mustard, coriander, fennel seeds, peppercorns and bay leaf. Keep warm over low heat.

2. Meanwhile, blanch the ramps in a large pot of boiling salted water until the leaves turn bright green, about 2-3 minutes. Drain, then shock the ramps under cold water. Dry, and arrange in a clean jar.

3. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the ramps and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 days before serving.

Pickled ramps will keep in the refrigerator for several months.