We have had a bit of the lurgy in our house this week - my daughter kindly shared the love & after waking with a sore throat I thought that a fiery ginger pickle was in order & I knew exactly the one I wanted to experiment with. When dropping some food off for a client to have at a private dinner party recently, I was invited to try several pickles that the Grandma of the family had made. Amongst them was a banging ginger number that knocked my socks off. 

Ginger has SO many health benefits - it is brilliant for an upset tummy & nausea, is an ace digestive aid as well as helping to clear out sinuses when your bunged up.  It has been used for thousands of years in Asian medicine & more recently Western studies have shown that it is effective in reducing the swelling in people that suffer from arthritis, it can activate cell-killing genes in certain cancers & has shown to be effective in the treatment of migraines. Now, there are some big reasons to cook a curry if ever I saw them!!

I can quite happily scoff this pickle straight from the jar but it would be tasty in stir fries, to adorn a dhall or meat curry as well as adding a kick to a salad. Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS
160g peeled ginger
Juice of 2 lemons
3 tbsp vinegar - I used white wine vinegar but cider vinegar would work too
2 pinches of seasalt

WHAT YOU'LL NEED 
A glass jar with lid (a kilner or jam jar is perfect) - cleaned & sterilised

WHAT DO I DO?

• Chop the peeled ginger into large matchsticks & pop into a bowl
• Sprinkle with the salt & give it a good squeeze
• Pack into your jar & then pour the lemony, vinegar brine over the top. There needs to be enough to cover all of the ginger. If needs be then squeeze in a little more lemon & add vinegar to taste.
• Give it a good shake
• You could eat this after an hour or so but I found that the flavours had really developed into something special after a week  

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I LOVE PICKLES! I love anything in vinegar or brine - love that sharp, sour, tang you get in your first mouthful followed by the complex flavours that then come with all of the spices, garlic & of course whatever has been pickled. For ages I favoured the more modern, quicker method of pickling things in vinegar but in the last couple of years I have started to learn about the traditional, slightly longer method of letting vegetables create their own brine, with a little help from salt & reckon that I could probably do with some of the patience that this encourages!  

Preserving things in vinegar, brine or alcohol has been going on for yonks as a way of storing food from bountiful seasons to eat throughout the year. And the health benefits are HUGE! Great for gut bacteria, preserving nutrients in food, building our immune system......as my pickling knowledge is topped up I shall pass it on.

To begin here's a recipe for a traditional fermented beetroot pickle - I would love to hear what your favourite ferment is & also how you get on with this weeks pickle.

Beetroot & Caraway Pickle

INGREDIENTS
500g raw peeled beetroot
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp caraway seeds 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED 
Grater or mandolin 
Crock pot or other ceramic dish (big enough to contain the beets & enough liquid to cover) 
Plate big enough to fit snugly into the pot
Weight to sit on top of plate - I used a kilner jar full of water
Clean cloth 

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO? 

• Grate or julienne the beetroot into a bowl, sprinkle with a little salt as you go along
• Mix in the caraway seeds & make sure it is thoroughly mixed - give the beets a squeeze as you go to encourage them to start releasing liquid
• Next pack it into your crock pot or whatever dish you are using - make sure it is packed down firmly
• Place the plate on top & then weight it down, give it a good press to get the juices flowing!
• Cover with the cloth & for the next 24 hours whenever you pass it give it another press
• After this time you are looking for the briney liquid to have risen above the plate - if this doesn't happen you can mix up a little more brine (1 tbsp sea salt to 250ml of water), remove the weight & plate add in the extra liquid then plate, weight & cover. 
• BE PATIENT for 1-4 weeks but check every couple of days - the longer you leave it the more tangy it becomes! 
• When it has reached the flavour you like then pop into a clean jar & leave in the fridge. 

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