Pickles: A Global History (Edible) - Hardcover

"A perfectly pocket-sized pickle primer covering everything sour, from German sauerkraut to kosher dills to Latin American ceviche."--CJ Lotz "Garden & Gun " "Who doesn't love a pickle? Low in calories and packed with flavour, they simply make any meal yummier. A book to relish, this tiny tome chronicles the global rise of the humble pickle, which fuelled workers who built China's Great Wall, flew to space (with a Korean who brought kimchi along for the rocket ride) and is now touted as a cure-all for hangovers."--Quarterly Review of Biology "Well researched, nicely illustrated, and embracing."--Petits Propos Culinaires "Pickles aren't simple, or so one learns after consuming just a few pages of Pickles. . . . There are quick pickles, pickle pickles and fermented pickles, not to mention dry salting and dry pickling with soybean paste or rice mold, ketchup, hot sauce--you get the idea. The fundamentals are simple: When the pH drops below 4.6, the acidic environment 'prevents the growth of food-spoiling microorganisms and eliminates certain food toxins and pathogens.' In other words, pickling preserves. And as with most cured foods, the results taste great, too. Pickles were common 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Romans pickled whole fried fish in hot vinegar. The range of pickled foods extends from mushrooms in Russia, locusts in Persia and herring in Holland to bananas in the West Indies, lemons in North Africa and feta in Greece. In Japan, they quick-pickle chrysanthemums as a condiment. Who knew?"--Christopher Kimball "Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Magazine "

Pickles are a global food: from the fiery, fermented kimchi of Korea and Japan's salty tsukemono, to the ceviche and escabeche of Latin America, Europe's sauerkraut and America's dill pickles. They are also a modern food. Growing interest in naturally fermented vegetables - pickles by another name - means that today, in the early twenty-first century, we are seeing a renaissance in the making and consumption of pickles. Across continents and throughout history, pickling has been relied upon to preserve foods and add to their flavour; and in these health-conscious times they have acquired a new significance. Traditionally fermented pickles are probiotic and possess anti-aging and anti-cancer properties; while pickle juice cures hangovers, prevents muscle cramps in athletes and reduces sugar spikes in diabetics. In Pickles, Jan Davison explores the cultural and gastronomic importance of pickles from the earliest civilisations to the present day. Discover the art of pickling mastered by the ancient Chinese, find out why Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon took fermented cabbage into space, learn how the Japanese pickle the deadly pufferfish, and uncover the pickling provenance of that most popular of condiments, tomato ketchup. In this globe-trotting book, Davison discovers how pickles have been omnipresent in our common quest, not only to conserve, but to create foods with relish.