Mango Pickle and Pickled Pears

My long-anticipated pickling adventure is finally underway, aided by a timely gift: The Joy of Pickling.  So far, it seems to be an excellent book.

I started off with a couple of somewhat unconventional recipes.  Things that wouldn't necessarily come to mind when you think of pickles, at least.

If you've never tried mango pickle, you should.  They are delicious.  Check out your local Indian grocery store.

We can't really get the kind of mango that's used in India stateside, so I had to make due with a normal, underripe mango from the grocery.  I only used one mango, and cut the recipe to a third, but I'll reproduce it with original quantities.

3 slightly underripe mangoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise
3 fresh chile peppers (I used jalapeno), one cut into thin strips and the others minced
1 1/2 teaspoons pickling salt
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
3/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/3 cup oil (preferably mustard, although I didn't have any)
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon whole yellow mustard seeds (I need to get some, ommitted this time)

Fry the garlic, ginger and minced chile in the oil.
Toast then grind the whole spices.
Mix the mango with the salt, vinegar and chile strips.
Add the spices to the oil mixture, then mix everything and transfer to a tightly sealed jar.
Let the jar stand for several days at room temperature, shaking at least once a day.
If you don't eat the pickle immediately, put it in the fridge where it should last at least 2 months.

My pickle still has a couple days to go, but it looks and smells real nice.

I don't think I'd ever had pickled pears, but I liked the idea and there were underripe Bosc pears to be had for 29 cents a pound.  You want pretty firm pears for pickling.  Apparently the traditional variety to use is Seckel pears.

I used 3 pounds of pears, 8 or 9 total.  The recipe below is for 6 pounds.  In addition to the pears, you want:

Four 3-inch cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons whole cloves
One 1-inch piece ginger, thinly sliced
3-4 pieces star anise, whole (my addition)
3 cups water
2 cups distilled white vinegar or white wine vinegar (I used 50/50 combo)
4 cups sugar

Put everything except the pears in a (ideally non-reactive) pot.  Boil to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for 15 minutes.
The pears should be peeled and left whole if small or halved and cored, if large.
Cook the pears gently in the syrup in a single layer until just tender.  The recipe says 5-15 minutes, but it took me about 25.  This may have been due to the pears not being fully submerged in my half-quantity of liquid.  Luckily they all fit in the pot, so it was only 25 minutes total.
If you wanted the pears to keep for a long time, you would pour them into jars and seal them with two-piece caps, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, then process the jars for 15 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

Since I was making a relatively small quantity and there was room in the fridge, I skipped this step.

Two of the pears are missing from this picture.  They featured in a delicious salad of spring greens that I highly recommend, but is sadly not pictured.  Here's what I put in the salad.

For the dressing, pound one clove of garlic to a paste.  Add salt, pepper, minced jalapeno and about a tablespoon of white wine vinegar.  Stir in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Dress the greens and add sliced, pickled pear, toasted walnuts and more salt and pepper to taste.  I also used some sliced tomato, but this component was dispensable, I think.  Really a delicious salad, and a perfect platform for the pears.