{"id":5,"date":"2004-07-01T19:06:47","date_gmt":"2004-07-02T04:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.taodekitchen.com\/2004\/07\/01\/a-lemon-is-not-always-a-lemon\/"},"modified":"2006-01-09T22:07:06","modified_gmt":"2006-01-10T07:07:06","slug":"a-lemon-is-not-always-a-lemon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/gardening\/a-lemon-is-not-always-a-lemon\/","title":{"rendered":"A lemon is not always a lemon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got to spend a bit of time in my slightly neglected garden this afternoon. I must say the plants love it that I am not out there hacking away at them \u2013 they have a chance to stretch and grow any which way the wind and sun coaxes them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>I suppose a wild garden can have its charm\u2026not really. Ah, but that\u2019s nature \u2013 always tumbling towards chaos while we mere mortals try to bring some sense of order to it. Well, that\u2019s my excuse for my over grown garden and I\u2019m sticking to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>After cleaning up a few wildly overgrown plants I discovered that I will soon be up to my eye balls in lemon cucumbers. So called, not because they taste like lemons but because they look like lemons. They are so delicious and crisp but you have to wear thick gloves to pick them because they have prickly thorns all over them. Contrary to popular belief, gardening can be a dangerous thing\u2026it\u2019s not for the delicate. Gardeners need to have a thick skin and strong backs yet I think all gardeners have soft hearts.\u00a0\u00a0 Luckily we love pickles, so I\u2019ll be making a few batches of Chinese Style Refrigerator Pickles with said cucumbers, along with carrots, daikon radish and ginger. Here\u2019s my favorite recipe:\u00a0\u00a0 1 c water
\n1 c white vinegar (or you can use cider vinegar)
\n2 c sugar
\n1\/4 teaspoon tumeric (optional for color)
\n4 carrots, peeled and sliced
\n1 lb daikon radish, peeled and sliced
\n1 lb cucumbers, peeled and sliced
\n4 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
\n3 Tablespoon salt
\npinch or two of chili flakes (optional)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>Combine first four ingredients in a non-reactive pot (stainless, enamel coated, or glass). Heat to a boil, stirring from time to time to dissolve the sugar. Cool to room temperature.\u00a0\u00a0 Put the veggies in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Let sit for 20 minutes to draw out the water. This will ensure that your pickles are crisp. Rinse with cold water and drain well. Squeeze the veggies to get rid of the remaining water and place in a clean jar or jars. Pour brine over the veggies, cover and put in the refrigerator. They taste best if you let them sit for at least 2 days but I usually can\u2019t wait and start munching after a few hours.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>These pickles are great as a side with sandwiches or my favorite is in veggie sushi rolls. Yum!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

see ya!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Got to spend a bit of time in my slightly neglected garden this afternoon. I must say the plants love it that I am not out there hacking away at them \u2013 they have a chance to stretch and grow any which way the wind and sun coaxes them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I suppose a wild garden can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-recipes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taodekitchen.com\/tasty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}