Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Mongastigu, their co host of Part Time Genius,
Speaker 1: one of the founders of Mental Flaws. And this is
Speaker 1: Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: your friends at Miracle Grow. Our goal is to make
Speaker 1: this the most human show about plants you'll ever listen to,
Speaker 1: and along the way, we'll share inspiring stories, tips and
Speaker 1: tricks to nurture your plant addiction, and just enough signs
Speaker 1: to make you sound like an expert. Now we are
Speaker 1: on summer break right now, but because Molly and I
Speaker 1: cannot stop our plant addictions, we are bringing you some
Speaker 1: mini episodes to brighten up your feed and grow your
Speaker 1: plant curiosity. Throughout the summer, we'll be dropping incredible stories
Speaker 1: from growers, advice from experts, and we'll have some fun
Speaker 1: conversations around fascinating plant facts. For today's special bonus episode,
Speaker 1: we're talking about one of our favorite ways to preserve
Speaker 1: your garden produce. That's right, we're talking about pickling. So
Speaker 1: I am a sucker for all types of pickled vegetables.
Speaker 1: I like dill pickles and bread and butter pickles. I
Speaker 1: like pickled beets and pickled helpinos. I love that oshenko
Speaker 1: which is the Japanese word for pickles, literally means fragrant dish.
Speaker 1: I can't go into a Korean shop without picking up
Speaker 1: some kimchi or spicy pickle cabbage. If I'm at a
Speaker 1: barbecue joint, I'll order fried pickles. And I love Indian
Speaker 1: pickles so much that any Indian meal, no matter how
Speaker 1: delicious the meal is, I will quietly ask for a
Speaker 1: side of Launcha or as it's called, which is a
Speaker 1: salty and tangy pickle, because to me, pickles always make
Speaker 1: a meal more perfect. I like pickles so much that
Speaker 1: my favorite kids book, and this is no joke, is
Speaker 1: Pickles the Fire Cat. I've actually referenced that in two
Speaker 1: different intros to books I've written, so it's no wonder
Speaker 1: that one of my favorite parts of this was chatting
Speaker 1: with Katie Costs in season two. She is the executive
Speaker 1: chef at the Nashville restaurant Husk, where they have their
Speaker 1: own in house pickling program, and when I asked her
Speaker 1: about the restaurant's pickling practices, it was so great to
Speaker 1: hear her get as excited about pickling as I do.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things to do, that little pain
Speaker 1: that the can makes whenever the lid seals is like
Speaker 1: placeless to me. It's a lost art. Nobody does it anymore,
Speaker 1: and or nobody at a small scale does it anymore,
Speaker 1: you know. And I thought it was funny during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: everybody got into baking bread and I walked down the
Speaker 1: aisle and all the mason jars were there, and I
Speaker 1: would go to the farmer's room every week. And that's
Speaker 1: all I did throughout the whole pandemic. Is I just
Speaker 1: can't all summer right now. I've got a couple of things.
Speaker 1: I have a summertime carrot kim chee that we made,
Speaker 1: which was phenomenal. Um. I also have a mushroom kim chee,
Speaker 1: lots of pickled mushrooms, um. And then all my preserved tomatoes.
Speaker 1: This is kind of the last end of the sea eason,
Speaker 1: right before we hit springtime and we get ready for
Speaker 1: all those wonderful springtime vegetables. So right now I'm preserving
Speaker 1: little things from winter time, Like I really love turnups
Speaker 1: in the wintertime because they're sweeter. I alter my pickling
Speaker 1: recipe according to the vegetable that I'm doing. I eat
Speaker 1: almost everything rawfers before I decide to to pickle it
Speaker 1: and how I'm gonna pickle it? How much am I
Speaker 1: gonna do a salt pickling liquid or am I gonna
Speaker 1: do uh, you know, no pickling liquid and just can
Speaker 1: it you know, in water and preserve it as is.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it's all about the vegetable now.
Speaker 1: Pickling is such a great way to preserve the harvest
Speaker 1: from your backyard garden. And the crazy thing is that
Speaker 1: you can pickle almost anything in your vegetable garden artichokes, beans, cauliflower, cabbage,
Speaker 1: even melons, and if you're in more exotic locales, mangoes
Speaker 1: and pineapples actually work too. But and this was something
Speaker 1: I learned from another chef on this program, the key
Speaker 1: to the perfect pickle produce is crispness. So you want
Speaker 1: to pickle your fruits and vegetables when they're still fresh
Speaker 1: and firm. And there's even a saying for this. It
Speaker 1: goes crisp into the brine, crisp out of the brine. Anyway,
Speaker 1: there's a whole world of pickling history, facts and helpful
Speaker 1: recipes out there. For example, did you know there's more
Speaker 1: than one way to pickle something instead of the traditional
Speaker 1: vinegar briane method. You can also pickle by simply using salt.
Speaker 1: And one of my favorite pickle facts is about Cleopatra,
Speaker 1: the famously beautiful Egyptian queen. She actually thought her beauty
Speaker 1: was derived from all the pickles she regularly ate, but
Speaker 1: that isn't all. According to history dot com, Roman emperors,
Speaker 1: including Julius Caesar, would insist their soldiers eight pickles before
Speaker 1: they went to battle because they believe the Brian cucumbers
Speaker 1: made their forces stronger. Kind of like Popeye and that
Speaker 1: Cannus finach so in cell Rason of one of my
Speaker 1: favorite ways to utilize the bounty of the garden. I'm
Speaker 1: sharing some of my favorite pickle facts today. One Deli pickles.
Speaker 1: Do you know why Delis serve pickles with sandwiches. It's
Speaker 1: because the pickle is supposed to be a palate cleanser
Speaker 1: after your mouth gets bored after a few bites of
Speaker 1: the sandwich. Biting into a pickle resets your taste buds
Speaker 1: with a burst of acid so that when you return
Speaker 1: to the sandwich, the flavors seem completely fresh to your mouth.
Speaker 1: Two kool Aid pickles in the Mississippi delta. Kool Aid
Speaker 1: pickles are a super popular treat with kids. The easiest
Speaker 1: way to make kool Aid pickles is to use a
Speaker 1: jar of already pickled cucumbers. You dissolve sugar and your
Speaker 1: drink packet flavor of choice into the pickle juice and
Speaker 1: then add the pickles back in and let them sit
Speaker 1: for about a week, and the bright red and purple
Speaker 1: pickles don't always look that appetizing. Kids have been going
Speaker 1: crazy for the sweet and puckery treat and they show
Speaker 1: up at general stores to pay a dollar for a
Speaker 1: pickle three. The next time you're playing sports, consider grabbing
Speaker 1: a jar of pickle juice instead of the gatorade. Pickle
Speaker 1: juice is actually a popular sports drink alternative for athletes,
Speaker 1: especially marathon runners. According to Women's Running Researchers believe the
Speaker 1: vinegar and the pickle brine relieves cramping with the help
Speaker 1: of reaction triggered by the acetic acid. The salt and
Speaker 1: pickle juice can also help athletes restore sodium levels after sweating,
Speaker 1: which can be key to preventing dehydration for TB and
Speaker 1: P sandwiches. Did you know that peanut butter and pickle
Speaker 1: sandwiches used to be a thing. According to the New
Speaker 1: York Times, the sandwiches were popular during the Great Depression
Speaker 1: and can be found on restaurant menus across the country,
Speaker 1: and they gained in popular clarity for a while with
Speaker 1: Bachelor's partially because peanut butter and pickles were often two
Speaker 1: staples you could find in the back of your fridge. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're going to try it, the writer Dwight Gardner
Speaker 1: recommends using bread and butter pickles instead of the dill varieties,
Speaker 1: and this is how he puts it quote. Their sweetness
Speaker 1: adds a flavor bump like a briny, sophisticated adult version
Speaker 1: of jelly. Five Pickle vegetables can be great for your
Speaker 1: gut health. Naturally fermented favorites like kinchi contained probiotics, which
Speaker 1: are these micro organisms that can assist in the digestion process.
Speaker 1: And finally, six, my favorite pickle fact of all time,
Speaker 1: which comes straight out of mental Floss. In Dary and Springs, Michigan,
Speaker 1: a k a. The Christmas Pickle Capital of the World,
Speaker 1: there is a pickle parade every December that's led by
Speaker 1: who else none other than the Grand Bill Moister. The
Speaker 1: best and strangest part of this parade is that as
Speaker 1: he leads the whole thing, he tosses out fresh pickles
Speaker 1: to all the hungry parade watchers out there. I've put
Speaker 1: this on my calendar and i can't wait to go
Speaker 1: out there and cash some pickles. That's it for today's
Speaker 1: bonus episode, but check back here again soon for more
Speaker 1: bonus episodes this summer. And don't forget no matter what
Speaker 1: season it is or where you're at in your gardening journey,
Speaker 1: there's some incredible resources waiting for you on the Miracle
Speaker 1: Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is a collaboration from My
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. Our show
Speaker 1: is written and produced by Molly Sosha and Mean Monga together.
Speaker 1: This episode was edited and engineered by our pal Matt Stillo.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening.