In New Orleans, I can’t help but enjoy pickled okra. I haven’t been able to find it ouside of Louisiana,  but here I’ll have it in my bloody mary or as a snack. I also save glass jars from marinara sauce, salsa, pickles, mayo, etc., thus I have plenty of empty jars for pickling. I came across a bunch of okra from Hollygrove Market, and because they are such a plentiful crop, I was able to obtain quite alot to pickle. For 3 weeks striaght I grabbed okra by the pounds and pickled them.

I looked up a few recipes, but the easiest I found was from Alton Brown (Good Eats). At first I used sea salt out of neccessity, but then I found some pickling salt, a better choice to use. If you can find pickling salt, I’d suggest using that. If not, then I would try to use to a decent sea salt. Kosher salt may or may not work as well (I havent’ given a shot, but I hear it’s ok), but DO NOT use Iodized Salt. Salts (especially iodized salt) usually have anti-caking agents that will cloud up the brine, however pickling salts do not contain them. Thus, if you can obtain it, I would highly recommend using it. It also seems to be a cheaper salt since it’s without additives. 

From what I gather from other recipes, as well as Alton’s, pickling is basically tossing the to-be-pickled-food (such as okra) into a brine of about 3% acid and 5-10% pure table salt. I can only guess that the acidic brine breaks apart cell walls to tenderize the okra as well as creating a poor environment for unwanted guest (bacteria, fungi, etc.). 

Now for the fun part. I chopped off the tops of the okra. 

However I left some of the top on, otherwise if the pod is damaged then the brine will get gooey from the okra-goo. 

I added the salt, vinegar, and water to pot and set it on high to boil. 

As the brine is heating up, I stuff all the okra into some jars that had some pickling spice (from Dekalb Farmers Market). 

I added the boiling brine and capped them. After cooling, I put them in the fridge. 

After 2 weeks, they were kinda “fresh” and not exactly ready. After 1 month, they were definately ready and delicious. I’m not a huge fan of the pickling spice that I bought, but I still find the pickles a good snack.