I Purchased some fresh tarragon on Thursday in preparation to make some cornichon pickles on Saturday. Friday night I chop the pickles and salted them to let them cure overnight.
Saturday morning I get everything out and ready and realize that my tarragon is now brownagon..
Dammit!
Off to store in town.... Out.....
Stop at another store in town... Out.....
Drive to next town over..... Out.....
WTF! Who put the run on the tarragon?
I settle for a crappy bunch of dill and head home to make dill pickles...
Don't get me wrong, I love dill pickles. But I have made dill pickles so many times and the whole point of making pickles this time was to make cornichons, with TARRAGON!
Here is basically the cornichon recipe, substitute dill for tarragon
Grubhacker Cornichon Pickles
3lb Gherkin/Cornichon Pickles or equal weight of normal pickles cut into gherkin size
6 TBS Pickling Salt
6 Shallots peeled and halved
4 garlic cloves peeled and halved
4 large tarragon Springs or 4 Large Dill Sprigs
25-30 whole black peppercorns
4 chillies or 1 TBS of red pepper flake
1/2 TBS Coriander
2 Bay Leaves
3-4 Cup White Wine Vinegar or White Vinegar
Wash and cut pickles to gherkin size
Mix pickling salt with pickles,toss and refridgerage for 24 hours
Drain cucumbers and wash with cold water
Clean or Sterilize a large crock or jars depending on if you will be canning or making refrigerator pickles
Add pickles and equal parts of other ingredients depending upon your holding vessel
Can as normal for canned or refrigerate for fridge pickles
Refrigerate or store for 1 month before serving
I much prefer fridge pickles as you dont have to go through the steralization process and I generally eat them fast enough that I dont have to can them. I also like the added crispness you get with refridgerator pickles.
Seth
