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QUICK PICKLED CARROTS AND RUTABAGA

The refreshing crunch of these pickles is a nice change from roasted, boiled, and pureed root vegetables. Joneve Murphy, the market gardener at Shelburne Farms, is an enthusiastic canner. She would use afresh cherry bomb pepper from the garden in place of the crushed red pepper. She also goes through the full canning process to keep pickles like these on her cupboard shelves/or the whole winter; we went with a quicker refrigerator pickle version, but you could can them if you like.
Makes: 2 quarts pickles

Before You Start
You can do this with just carrots, but the rutabaga adds variety and makes a nice pickle too. You could also use turnips if you like their bite.

Ingredients
• 3 large carrots (about 3/4 pound), peeled and cut into sticks about 3 inches long by 1/2 inch wide
• 1 small rutabaga (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into sticks about 3 inches long by 1/2 inch wide
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of a knife
• 1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons whole mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 1/8--1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper to taste
• Fresh dill sprigs and fresh fennel fronds (optional)


Directions
1. Prepare a large bowl full of ice water. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, add the carrots and rutabaga, and boil for 1 minute. Drain immediately and plunge the vegetables into the ice water to stop cooking.

2. In the same pot, combine the cider vinegar, water, sugar, salt, garlic, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, peppercorns, and crushed red pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes.

3. Drain the cooled vegetables and put them in a heat-resistant container along with the dill sprigs and fennel fronds, if using. Pour the hot pickling liquid over the vegetables and cool. When they are cool, cover them tightly and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before eating. The pickles can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month.