The tart relish known as Picalilli. Image courtesy of Well Preserved

Soon the bushel baskets will be arriving, full of plum tomatoes, wax beans, little eggplants the size of eggs – all of it just waiting to be pickled and preserved. Maybe this is something you do every year, spend a day making tomato sauce from scratch, or apricot jelly, or zucchini chow chow. Or maybe you’ve never done it before and each year, when you see those bushel baskets full of beautiful, freshly harvested produce, you get a feverish desire to make it happen this year.

What if you create a new strain of super duper botulism and kill the world?

It’s time. And here’s some motivation to help you turn those gorgeous cabbages into Picalilli, those green tomatoes into Salsa Verde, or those jalapeños into Whey- Fermented Jalapeños. First off – go to the Well Preserved website, where Joel and Dana (the authors of our favourite book on the subject, Batch) have countless recipes and tips to turn you into a preserving and pickling master. They even have a page for the beginner, so you can start right here.

Once you’ve got your veggies and your recipe and you are all set to go…but maybe a bit hesitant because you’ve never done this before and what if you create a new strain of super duper botulism and kill the world?

No fear. Also, chill out. It’s just pickles.

Pioneers used to make them daily and they didn’t even have the internet or Martha Stewart to help them. You’re lucky – you have Dana and Joel, and the internet where you can easily browse the complete works of Martha Stewart.

Now you are ready – but maybe you still need that extra kick in the pants to help you DO THIS THING!

Here you go:

Everyone is invited to compete – from chefs to newbies to descendants of plucky pioneer picklers. All the details are here. Now get to it and Happy Pickling!