It seems as though pickling has become quite the pursuit, especially in our hometown of Brooklyn.  A new generation of foodies is celebrating the craft of pickling, and artisanal pickling purveyors like Brooklyn Brine and McClure’s, are gaining prominence in the food industry.

Seriously, what’s not to love about a pickle?  Crispy, tangy, salty, and tart…pickles are great solo and even better in a sandwich.  Our team at MITI MITI loves pickles and we decided it would be fun to make our own, using our herbaceous Green Aji sauce.

Vinegar is the prominent ingredient used in our Green Aji sauce, and it is also the prominent ingredient that is used for pickling brine.  Vinegar is pretty fantastic because it naturally fights off bacteria, while preserving both vegetables and fruit.  Pickled mango anyone?  Rather than using plain white distilled vinegar for our brine, we used our Green Aji Sauce and simply added a bit of water and salt to our brine mixture.  We also used chopped garlic, red pepper flakes, and dill seeds to enhance the flavors of our pickles.

Our Green Aji Sauce is packed with fresh herbs like cilantro and parsley.  As the cucumbers transformed into pickles, these flavorful herbs were absorbed into the green veggies, which gave our pickles a little bit of a Latin flavor.

Here is the very simple recipe we used to make our Green Aji Pickles:

INGREDIENTS:

2 English Cucumbers

1 Bottle of Green Aji Sauce

2 Tablespoons of Kosher Salt

1 Cup of Water

1 Tablespoon of Dill Seeds

1 Teaspoon of Red Pepper Flakes

2 Cloves of Garlic

PREPARATION:

Sterilize the Jar you will be using to prepare your pickles.  The best way to do this is to wash out the jar using a fragrance free soap and very hot water.

Prep your cucumbers.  Wash them with warm water and cut both ends of the cucumbers off.  Using a cutting board, cut the pickles into spears.

Add the following ingredients to the Jar: 1 tablespoon of dill seeds, 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and 2 diced up cloves of garlic.

Place the cucumber spears into the Jar that now contains the spices.  Pack the cucumbers as tightly as possible.

Prepare the brine.  In a small pot, combine the Green Aji Sauce with one cup of water and 2 tablespoons of salt.  Bring these ingredients to a boil and then pour the brine into the jar leaving an inch and half of empty space.

Seal the bottle shut and let them cool at room temperature.  Once the jar has cooled, place them in the refrigerator.  It is best to let the pickles marinate in the brine and spices for 48 hours before re-opening jar.

Enjoy the pickles!