Sweet Home Cafe’s Spicy Pickled Okra

These pickled okra pods, adapted from a recipe in Sweet Home Cafe Cookbook, may be the best we’ve ever tasted — crispy and tangy, snappy and spicy. Most pickled okra is pretty sweet, but these have just a touch of sugar to balance the acid; they’re not at all sweet. If you’re using 1-pint Mason jars, you’ll need to look for okra on the smaller side, in order for them to fit with enough room to cover with the pickling brine. If you’re using larger okra, you’ll need 1 1/2-pint or larger Mason jars.

We included this recipe in a Sept. 2020 story about okra.

Ingredients

2 pounds okra

6 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half lengthwise

10 red Thai chiles, sliced in half lengthwise

2 cups distilled white vinegar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon celery seeds

Instructions

1. Prepare several 1-pint or 1 1/2 pint Mason jars, lids and screwbands by washing and drying them thoroughly. Fill the jars with the whole okra pods, placing the first layer stem-side-down. Tuck the garlic and chiles in between them, then, in order to fit as many okra in each jar as possible, put the next layer of okra pods in stem-side up. Fill the jar no higher than just past its shoulders.

2. Place the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, turmeric, mustard, coriander and celery seeds in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer the mixture for 3 minutes.

3. While the brine is till hot, pour it into the jars, fully covering the okra and filling to within 1/4 inch of the lip. Insert a thin knife into the jar and gently stir two or three times to ensure no air bubbles remain. Close the jar with the lid and screwband. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Pickled okra needs 2 or 3 days to develop favor and can be held in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.