Quick Pickled Carrots

With all that delicious green staring me in the face yesterday, I had to do something exciting.  I haven't tried making the strawberry rhubarb ice cream yet but I have eaten two delicious salads in the past 18 hours and sprinkled dill into my scrambled eggs this morning.  I also used some of the dill in these easy carrot pickles.  I searched for a recipe that I liked and wasn't able to come up with just what I wanted so I set about making my own.  I made a pint jar of pickled carrots with the following recipe:

3 medium-large carrots scrubbed clean and cut into thin diagonal slices 

(be sure to peel your carrots if they are not organic)

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp of chili pepper flakes (or more to taste)

several sprigs of fresh dill

-add the above ingredients, in mixed layers, to a clean pint jar-

in a small saucepan, bring the following ingredients to a boil

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 large sprig dill

boil for a minute or two, then let cool slightly

take out the dill from the brine and then pour the brine into the jar

let the jar cool a bit more, then cover tightly with a lid and store in the fridge overnight

Pickle plates are big here in the twin cities.  Many restaurants feature their own pickled vegetables and I try them at most every place we venture to.  Most have been pretty good, although with the last plate I had, the vinegar really overpowered the taste of the vegetables.  I like the 2 to 1 ratio of water to vinegar in this recipe as well at the bit of honey.  It does not make these sweet at all, but takes an edge off of the vinegar.  You could certainly add more if you would like more sweetness to your pickles.  In fact, if you left out the dill and garlic, increased the honey, and added some ginger, these would be totally different but most delicious.  I'll give it a try sometime and let you know how it goes!