by Johnathan L. Wright, jwright@rgj.com – Reno Gazette-Journal

Pity the poor cucumbers that come before Matt Soter.

The founder and owner of local Nevada Brining Co., an artisan maker of pickled foods, rigorously inspects all pickle hopefuls. Are they dark green? Free from wrinkles? Are they firm, without spongy spots that will never become crunchy? Put simply: Do the cucumbers look and smell fresh?

Cukes that don’t meet these standards are ruthlessly dismissed, without appeal. The other week, Soter rejected an entire 100-pound delivery. Production ceased. Appointments were canceled.

“Quality is the most important thing,” Soter said. “Sometimes, it can be challenging to get a weekly supply. We’re creating artisanal complements. We are not your Mom’s pickles.”

Daily shots

Which isn’t to say that family hasn’t had a role in turning Soter, a Virginia native, into the Pickle Guy, as he styles himself.

“My grandparents garden, they would always preserve the summer bounty: pickles, blanching tomatoes, making preserves and sauces,” Soter said.

“I’ve always had a love of food preservation.”

This love — along with the daily shots of pickle juice that Soter said helped him get over “a medical bump in the road” in the 1980s — prompted the entrepreneur to settle on pickled foods as the business he would open. “Plus, Northern Nevada had no artisanal pickles.”

Nevada Brining got its start in 2014 selling pickled foods and rubs from a barbecue restaurant in Las Vegas. Reno’s flourishing culinary scene, with its craft beverages and food start-ups, convinced Soter that “Nevada Brining would have a better fit up north.”

In January 2015, canning began at One World Kitchen, a certified commercial kitchen in Sparks.

Seasoning mixes

The other afternoon at One World, the cucumbers had made the cut.

Travis Purdy and Lou Laverty, two members of the pickle posse, sliced the vegetables (fruit, technically) into thick half-inch coins, added the slices to jars already supplied with seasoning, and tended to kettles of simmering brine that would soon be poured into the jars, submerging the contents.

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NEVADA BRINING COMPANY

Address (canning kitchen): 615 Spice Island Drive, suite 4, Sparks

Email: Matt@NevadaBrining.com

On the Web:www.NevadaBrining.com

Where to buy products: Fine Vines Cheese & Wine, the Flag Store Sign & Banner, Great Basin Community Food Co-op, Napa-Sonoma Grocery Co., Napa-Sonoma South, Reno Provisions, Wedge Cheese Shop

Kickstarter campaign: Visit www.kickstarter.com, then search for: Next Step for Nevada Brining. Goal: $4,000.

_________________________

The 100-pound load of cucumbers would yield approximately 100 jars, about a pound of product per jar. The session would last about four hours.

Nevada Brining uses different seasoning combinations in all its products, but essential herbs and spices include peppercorns, fennel, coriander and yellow mustard seed. The basic brine unites water, white vinegar and salt.

“We try to balance this, balance that, take this in, take something out, until we have the right flavor,” Soter said. “A quarter-teaspoon of one ingredient added or taken away can completely change the profile.”

Like a Big Mac

Nevada Brining’s flagship product is its Deli Style Pickle jabbed with dill and garlic. Those thick slices — they’re called barrel cuts — don’t just look impressive, flexing their biceps in the jar.

“The thickness helps preserve the crunch,” Soter explained. “There’s not an entire soft spine, like with a spear. This cut is great for charcuterie, and it’s a good starting place for other cuts. It’s easy to reach in and grab and chop.”

The deli pickles have a mild brininess, a flavor completely unlike the pugnacious saltiness of many big-brand pickles.

The company’s Boozy Pickle series, by contrast, delivers definite whiskey flavor up front. The first jars incorporated whiskey from Las Vegas Distillery.

A current iteration features hooch from Seven Troughs Distilling of Sparks, the whiskey prominent at first bites, the heat from serrano chiles growing on the finish.

The intention is to use whiskey from all the local distillers, including the new Branded Hearts Distillery of Reno.

The whiskey must be in raw form so the pickles don’t run afoul of federal labeling laws and other laws governing products containing alcohol. The whiskey and the chiles in each boozy style are paired for compatibility.

“The idea for Boozy Pickles came from a pickle back shot,” Soter said. “It’s Jameson whiskey and pickle juice. It sort of tastes like the secret sauce on a Big Mac.”

Strain and roast

There’s more in the brine than pickles.

Nevada Brining also produces Stagecoach carrots, the name a tip of the jar to the Nevada town. Cloves and ginger gently spike the carrots; the brine is mild and sweet. “You could just drink the jar,” Soter said.

Pickled Cauliflower brine is saltier, so curry and peppercorns provide balance. Soter likes to strain the florets, roast them at 375 F and finish with a flurry of freshly grated Parmesan.

Ruby Red (a nod to the mountains) Pickled Onions offer a sweet and sour tangle that’s great on hot dogs or pulled pork sandwiches. (I added some to mustard chicken thighs with tasty results.)

New products

Through the end of 2015, Soter estimated that Nevada Brining would move about 10,000 jars of pickled products. The company also sells crinkly bags of barbecue rub.

Ahead for Nevada Brining: flavored ketchups, savory simple syrups for bars, bourbon-braised cherries, cayenne-infused pickled grapes, a new taco rub, more white-label products for customers — and a Kickstarter campaign whose goal is to raise $4,000.

“I have a lot of ideas,” Soter said. “Sometimes, too many ideas.”

As far as ideas like bourbon cherries and pickled grapes go, the fruit will learn soon enough what the cucumbers already know: Before anything, you’ve got to pass muster.

Jessica Kerr / Delta Optimist

There is room in everyone’s diet for a little probiotics, and they can help with a myriad of health concerns.

“They’re crucial,” said Halina Kwiatkowska, who owns Parsley, Sage and Thyme Health Store in Ladner.

The human digestive system is made up of millions of microorganisms. Probiotics are healthy bacteria that can be ingested through certain foods or supplements. Once in the colon, they multiply and help balance the good and bad bacteria that live there.

However, Kwiatkowska said, research is showing that probiotics can help more than just colon health.

“Eighty to 90 per cent of the immune system is in our gut,” she said, adding that poor gut flora can lead increased susceptibility to colds and the flu, and other diseases.

Kwiatkowska said that people with intestinal issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome, have poor gut flora. Ongoing poor intestinal health can lead to a host of health problems throughout the body – allergies, asthma, eczema and even mood are all linked to the gut, she said.

Serotonin, the human hormone also known as the “happy hormone,” is produced largely in the digestive track and is responsible for maintaining mood balance.

“It goes beyond that whole gastric upset,” Kwiatkowska said. “All the research in the world is now done on probiotics.”

Taking probiotics is especially important following surgery, a round of antibiotics, or a gastro intestinal illness, she said, adding that one bout of stomach flu can “pretty much wipe out” all the good bacteria.

Probiotics can be found in fermented foods, such as yogurt and kefir (a fermented milk drink), sauerkraut, kosher pickles (pickles made with a salt brine instead of vinegar), kimchi (Korean fermented vegetables) and miso paste (Japanese fermented soybean paste). At Parsley, Sage and Thyme, they recommend eating some kind of fermented food with the largest meal of the day, Kwiatkowska said.

There are also a variety of probiotic supplements on the market, which provide a much more potent dose of the beneficial bacteria, she said.

There are many different supplements out there today ranging from six to 10 billion per capsule up to 100 billion. Kwiatkowska recommends looking at the potency, as well as the types of probiotics included.

Some formulas are designed to address specific areas, such as colon, urinary or genital health, while other can help with general health and wellbeing.

© 2015 Delta Optimist

– See more at: http://www.delta-optimist.com/living/probiotics-important-to-good-health-1.2066416#sthash.9jcZ5RV1.dpuf

• By Kathy Hanks The Hutchinson News khanks@hutchnews.com

Perhaps fair vendors lie awake at night dreaming of the most unusual foods to blend together into a dish at the Kansas State Fair.

Shelly Starks and Robert Base with the Carousel Cafe came up with Jalapeno Twinkies to add to their menu.

“The past two days they’ve been really selling,” said Christopher Michael, manager of the Carousel Cafe.

To prepare this delicacy, Michael very carefully slices Twinkies in half lengthwise. Then he places three to four jalapenos inside and puts it back together and dips it in funnel cake batter. Then he lightly fries each side for 30 seconds and then sprinkles the finished product with powdered sugar.

If you like Twinkies and you like jalapenos, why wouldn’t you like Jalapeno Twinkies? Yum.

Cost: $6

September 14, 2015 | 1:22am

 

Carnegie Deli, which was forced to close in April after it was caught illegally siphoning gas from Con Ed, will hold interviews for its first-ever pickle mascot on Wednesday ahead of its reopening next month.

“Applicants can be green, as in inexperienced, or seasoned just like Carnegie’s delicious real pickles,” deli spokeswoman Cristyne Nicholas told The Post. “And no salty language, please; it’s a family establishment.”

Marian and Sarri Harper, co-owners of the Midtown eatery, hatched the idea.

They said they never considered any other character to be their mascot because pickles are an “essential” part of every gut-busting Carnegie meal.

The seasonal mascot will pass out pickles while dressed in a green body suit with white clown hands, Nicholas said, adding the deli will take suggestions for the mascot’s name.

The deli posted ads for the job outside its Seventh Avenue eatery and online.

Matthew Sacks, 23, plans to apply for the gig.

“A pickle — that’s American,” the Queens resident said. “When you bite into a pickle, there’s not a better sensation.”

www.huffington.in

Name any ingredient and some region of India probably has a pickle recipe for that. Think back to your childhood and about pickles in particular – from the special bottles, known as barnis, to the faint aroma of the spices that our grandmums used, pickles are about more than just taste and flavour. They are about nostalgia, memories and diversity, something that commercial pickles can only hope to match. In this episode of The Real Food Podcast, Vikram Doctor takes you on a journey across India, telling you about the mind-boggling variety of pickles that we make and what sets our pickles apart.

Unlike the vinegar and brine-based pickles usually found in Western countries, our pickles are predominately made using oil. This is a bit unusual. Oil, unlike salt and vinegar, doesn’t destroy bacteria or desiccate the produce, two crucial aspects of pickling any ingredient. But, oil is where all the magic happens. Ananda Solomon, the executive chef at Vivanta by Taj – President, explains, “Pickle has life in it – it keeps on maturing, and oil helps in enhancing that.” Simply put, the chemicals that give spices their flavour and aroma are enhanced by the use of oil.

The use of oil is also why pickle making in India is such an intricate ritual. Not only do we prefer using certain kinds of oil (mustard in the north and sesame down south), which are known to last longer, we also have elaborate processes of pre-cooking ingredients and drying them in the sun. Bangalore-based writer and author Kaveri Ponnapa has written an excellent piece in Scroll, which details the craft of making traditional Coorg pickles.

Unsurprisingly, Coorg isn’t the only place that boasts of pickles endemic to a region. From the carrot pickle in North India to the mussels pickle in south, India has an impressive and unmatchable array of pickles. In fact, in a Google search with a generic term “pickle types”, the first search result is Wikipedia’s page on the list of Indianpickles. As Rita D’souza, the author of Pickles and Chutneys of India, tells Vikram,everything can be pickled. “Even potato can be pickled – that was surprising even for me!” says Rita.

It’s difficult to get your hands on Rita’s book, as well as others such as Usha’s Pickle Digest. And, with more and more pickles being mass produced, it may seem as though we are forgetting the delightful flavours of homemade pickles in favour of the convenience that commercial pickles provide. But, there are some restaurants, like Taj Connemara’s Raintree with its pickle trolley, that are giving them the importance they deserve. And, as a hopeful Rita points out, thanks to the internet, the pendulum is swinging towards the discovery of our culinary history and tradition.

Pickles are crucial to Indian cuisine and we need to enjoy them all.