Barrel Pickle Jar
A Transylvanian salt-brine pickle, shrunk to one jar and one day of walking.
- calories
- 150
- weight
- 1.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 83
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 400 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Snack
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried white cabbage, shredded | 1/3 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Dried red cabbage, shredded | 2 tbsp | it dyes the whole jar pink, which is the point |
| Dried cauliflower florets | 1/4 cup | broken small, they rehydrate slowly |
| Dried carrot coins | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried cucumber slices | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried red bell pepper | 2 tbsp | gogosari if you can find them |
| Dried celery root, diced fine | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried horseradish root, shaved | 1 tsp | |
| Dried quince or tart apple | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic, dried slices | 3 slices | |
| Black peppercorns | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried hot chile | 1 small | |
| Coarse non-iodized salt | 1 tsp | iodized salt turns the brine cloudy and bitter |
Method
- At breakfast, dump the bag into a screw-top jar and add 400 ml of cold water.
- Close it and shake until the salt is gone. Nothing will look ready yet.
- Carry it upright in a side pocket. Shake it whenever you stop.
- By camp the vegetables have taken the brine back up. Drink or drain the liquid, then eat the pickles alongside dinner.
- If the cauliflower is still hard after eight hours, give it another hour. It is the last thing to soften.
The original is a barrel in a cellar: vegetables under salt water for weeks, no vinegar anywhere, sourness coming from fermentation rather than a bottle. None of that fits in a pack, so this keeps the salt and the aromatics and gives up the fermentation. What you get after a day in the jar is a cold, sharp, crunchy vegetable dish, not a true pickle.
Drying the vegetables first is what makes the timing work. Fresh cabbage takes weeks to give up its water to a brine; dried cabbage spends the day pulling brine back in, which is the same exchange running the other direction and much faster. Horseradish, garlic, and the chile carry the flavor because they are strong enough to survive both the dehydrator and the dilution. This is the part of dinner that is not beige.
Packing
Dehydrate everything at home and mix it into one bag per day, salt included. Peppercorns and the chile go in loose. Use a wide-mouth jar with a gasket lid, not a freezer bag, or you will find brine in your quilt.
Variations
- Dried watermelon rind was in the original barrel and holds its crunch better than anything else here.
- Skip the salt and soak in plain water if you are running low on drinking water and want to eat the brine.
- A tablespoon of oil stirred in at camp turns it into a salad rather than a side.
https://savoriurbane.com/muraturi-asortate-la-butoi-putina-sau-galeata-fara-otet-reteta-ardeleneasca