Pickled Radishes

We are lucky enough to have a tiny balcony garden at the back of our equally as tiny home in Bronte. We have a small garden with a couple of big, beautiful olive trees too. Apparently a mystery man comes round to pick all the olives to marinate and brine, but so far the only things picking them are the hungry cockatoos.

We live in a shared apartment block with some other interesting characters. There's the grumpy key-cutter handyman downstairs with the broken foot, Tom, a lovely grey haired, vegetarian next door who feeds me life wisdom while I hang out the washing, and the staff of a nail salon along with their naughty, messy kids.  It's a motley crew, but it works.

When we moved in a couple of months ago there was a cluster of pots on our balcony filled with dreary looking remnants of plants that were. We got rid of the duds, planted some seeds, watered them lovingly every day and now we have a range of herbs and veggies on our doorstep.

The growing has been temperamental. Some things work really well (hello basil!) and others have failed miserably. Who knew patty pan squash plants grew to be so damn big and inconvenient.

An ongoing war with caterpillars and snails means a beautiful broccoli seedling can turn into a twiggy stem overnight. As the CEO of a grade four caterpillar club in primary school, I outright refuse to kill the beautiful silky creatures. That's Hugo's job.

One veg that has flourished is the good ol' radish. It must love our salty sun or something because we can't seem to eat them all. With autumn well and truly settling in, we decided to pull them all out to make way for some new seedlings. Ever since I made these quick pickled beetroots awhile back, I've always been looking for new veg to pickle since the beetroots are now a staple in my fridge.

So here's a pickled radish recipe for you, if ever you find yourself in a situation of radish overload. I'm sure this basic recipe would work well with any veg too!

Pickled Radishes

Makes 1 big jar

2 cups finely sliced radish

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Sea salt flakes

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup raw sugar

In a bowl place the radishes, onion, peppercorns, caraway and cumin seeds and sea salt. Combine apple cider vinegar, water and sugar in a pouring jug and stir until sugar has dissolved. Place radish into a medium sized mason jar. Pour over the pickling liquid, out the lid on and whack in the fridge. I'd recommend letting these radishes pickle for at least a week before eating but if you can't resist, go for it.