Daikon Pickles - #2

Submitted by Chef Edlear

"These daikon pickles are a recipe from Barbara Tropp. My daughter #2 loves these. Daughter # 3 prefers an alternate recipe I make. Things get confusing around our house when I try to please everyone at once. Any way, this is an easy pickle, flavors improve as it sits, lasts a while under refrigeration. The ginger/lemon flavors really come through here. I use a mandoline to get perfect thin slices. Most days I leave the jalapenos out, and just use the pepper flakes."

 

• Ready In: 15mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Yields: 2 1/2 cups
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• 1 lb daikon radish, cut into paper thin slices
• 10 slices fresh gingerroot (paper thin slices)
• 2 small green jalapeno peppers, cut into paper thin rings
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 cup unseasoned japanese rice vinegar
• 6 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

directions

1. Cover the daikon with boiling water and let sit for 1 1/2 minutes. Drain and immediately cool down with an ice bath. Drain again.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir as it's coming up to temperature. When it gets to the boil, add the daikon slices, cover the pot and remove from the heat.
3. Cool to room temperature, transfer from the saucepan into a clean container and then store in the refrigerator, still in the pickling liquid.

Reviews

[TasteTester]

These are so good that I can't keep my hands away from them. (In fact, I'm crunching on a few as a write this review.) I was looking forward to making these since I'd never had a daikon radish before. It has a milder flavor than a red radish, but still has zing. I made the recipe just as written, except I added a few ancho chiles into the canning jar to give some extra heat and color to the pickles. I also used the 2 jalapenos and the red pepper flakes, so they are right up there on the "heat scale." One word of caution: as would be expected, these pickles get hotter the longer you keep them in the jar, so unless you plan on eating them all right away, you might want to prepare the pickles a little milder than you want the final product to taste because they will keep getting hotter as each day goes by. I'll definitely put these in my keeper file, and am also going to make some jars as a Christmas gift for my oldest son, who loves HOT food. Thanks for posting this terrific recipe, Chef!