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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Watermelon Pickles With Zanthoxylum

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Watermelon Pickles With Wild Szechuan Peppercorns - ZanthoxylumOld family recipes can be treasured heirlooms.

For a while, I got on a kick where I would reinterpret dishes I remembered the women in my family making. To get inspiration, I called my grandma one week and asked her if she had any recipes from Granny Alice (my great grandma), who was always referred to as an intuitive and talented cook, as the matriarchs in families so often are.

Grandma didn’t have too many recipes, but somehow we got on the topic of pickles and she mentioned Granny Alice used to make some from watermelon rind. I had never made let alone tasted watermelon pickles, so I made sure to hold onto the idea.

A couple months later the watermelon started to come into the restaurant, and I was ready. I found a couple recipes online and made a few variations with different spices. The texture of the rind cooked in syrup is really good, definitely worth making.

Watermelon pickles are something that get better with time too, and benefit from the heating and processing of a water bath or pressure canner. The rind isn’t naturally soft, erring on the side of cooking it more rather than less is a good idea.

Watermelon Pickles With Wild Szechuan Peppercorns - Zanthoxylum

Four years later I discovered the Zanthoxylum. I was looking for ways to harness the citrus flavor of the berries and the leaves, and minimize the numbing sensation. One of the ways I used them was to flavor a basic pickle liquid. The liquid tasted great, but what to use it on? I wanted something bland that would bow down to the Zanthoxylum and let it take over, that’s when I remembered Great-Grandma’s watermelon pickles.

Green Zanthoxylum-wild Szechuan Peppercorns

The unripe green berries, great because there is no seed inside of them yet.

I made the pickles, canned them, then waited, and waited. I knew the longer the rind sat in the liquid the stronger the flavor would be, in the end I waited about 6 months. When I cracked the first jar though, I knew it was worth it.

The rind completely takes on the aroma of the Szechuan peppercorn leaves and berries, a bit like kaffir lime leaves crossed with lemon balm or something. I was curious if the numbing flavor of the berries would transfer too, since  things can be dulled by cooking. But about 4-5 minutes after eating a pickle or two, I could feel the numbing begin to start, and it was great-just enough, but not too much.

In the end these are one of the best pickles I’ve made, and likely the most interesting. It doesn’t hurt either that they let me imagine I was in the kitchen with my great grandmother for an afternoon.

Granny Alice, these are for you.

Watermelon Pickles With Wild Szechuan Peppercorns - Zanthoxylum

alice dahlk

Great Grandma.

Watermelon Pickles With Wild Szechuan Peppercorns - Zanthoxylum
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Watermelon Pickles With Zanthoxylum 

Yields 4-5 pints of pickles, depending on the size of your watermelon.
Prep Time45 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Szechuan Peppercorns, Watermelon Pickles, Xanthoxylum americanum

Ingredients

  • 1 large watermelon
  • 5 tablespoons green Zanthoxylum berries/Szechuan peppercorns
  • 1 quart champagne vinegar
  • 6 cups white granulated sugar
  • 1 quart water
  • Pinch of salt
  • A large handful of Zanthoxylum/kinome leaves
  • 1 inch piece of lime zest white pith removed

Instructions

  • Cut the water melon in half, then cut each piece into quarters. Carefully remove all pink flesh, then using a sharp vegetables peeler, completely remove all of the green skin to reveal the rind. Cut the rind into equal sized pieces to ensure even cooking, I liked 1 inch rectangles. Reserve the pink flesh for eating or making sorbet, you should end up with about 3-4 lbs of rind, depending on the size of your watermelon.
  • Lightly crush the Zanthoxylum berries to release their scent then bruise the leaves lightly as well for the same effect.
  • Next bring the water, vinegar, Zanthoxylum berries and leaves, lime zest, watermelon rind, salt and sugar to a simmer in a saucepot. cook the mixture for 30 minutes or so at a slow simmer until the rind is tender. Discard the leaves and lime zest at this point, or add it to the jars as a garnish. The watermelon rind should be completely tender, and the juice should be thick and syrupy, if the juice isn't thick, remove the rind and reduce the syrup a bit more.
  • Pack the rind into sterilized jars then top with the hot syrup, making sure to leave 1/4 inch of head-space at the top of each jar to discourage explosions.
  • Divide the Zanthoxylum berries evenly between the jars, seal the jars then process for 15 minutes in a water bath canner. Remove the jars from the water bath and allow them to cool. When the jars are cool, inspect any for unsealed lids. If some of the lids didn't seal, you can repeat the canning process, or just keep them in the refrigerator.
  • With the jars that sealed correctly, label and date them, then store in a dark place for a few months, or as long as you can wait to enjoy them.

Notes

I was trying to capture the essence of the Zanthoxylum aroma here, you can, of course add other seasonings. Things that go good with lime would be great: cardamom, ginger, hot chillies..you get the idea. It would be great to try making this with brown sugar, honey or maple syrup too as the sweetener.
Remember that different species of zanthoxylum will have more aroma than others. If you know an area where they grow, inspect the leaves of each individual shrub. I crush and smell them side by side to find those with the strongest aroma.

Related

Previous Post: « Fiddlehead Salad With Spruce Tips, Peppermint, And Pecorino
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Comments

  1. Jacqui

    January 20, 2018 at 10:01 am

    My Dad made tons of watermelon rind pickle. He soaked the rind pieces in brine (30g salt, 1 litre water) overnight and then cooked it in the brine till it became translucent (about 10 min) before straining and cooking it in the sweet pickling mixture (vinegar sugar and spices). We always imagined that this helped it keep its crunch.
    Do you think this would work with dried Szechuan pepper?

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Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of t Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of the plant, besides the pods in my opinion. They need to be cooked to be edible. 

I only pick from common milkweed in areas where there’s very large colonies. 

I leave some buds to flower on each plant, I also avoid any tops that have insects or monarch caterpillars. Plenty of food to go around. 

#milkweedisafoodplant #foraging #milkweedbuds #asclepiassyriaca
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

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During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
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