Celery Root Pickles

My experiments with celery root are ongoing. I love these sweet, crisp refrigerator pickles. They aren’t canned as there is no USDA data for canning celery root pickles. But the good news is you don’t have to use vinegar with5% acidity. The pickle is excellent tossed into egg, potato, or chicken salads, though lately I’ve been just munching them out of the jar, and last night I put a pickle in a martini, which was very bad, in the best possible way.

Celery Root Pickles
Makes 1 half-pint

2 cups celery root, peeled, cut into pieces about 3 by 1 inches, then sliced very thinly on a mandolin
1 cup vinegar (you can use rice, white wine, or distilled)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

• Add the vinegar, sugar and salt to a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil over a high heat and boil until the sugar and salt dissolves. Add the celery root and bring back to a boil. Remove from the heat.
• Have ready a half-pint jar, lid, and band that has been sterilized. To sterilize, boil for 10 minutes at sea level, adding 1 minute for every 1,000 feet above altitude.
• Pack the celery root into the jar, cover with the brine, screw on the lid and refrigerate. Holds for about 2 weeks in the fridge.