City Roots Quick Pickles

       

     When I visit my parents in Columbia, SC, I can’t resist a trip to the Soda City Market held on the 1500 block of Main Street right in downtown Columbia. It holds a special place in my heart for several reasons. When I first began getting interested in eating Paleo I was living in Columbia, and I knew that I wanted to start buying pastured pork, poultry, and beef, and that I also wanted to buy in season, locally grown veggies and fruits. I had been working at a few farm to table restaurants in town, and I knew that these products existed close to me because they were featured on menus, but I didn’t really know where I could personally buy them. I asked some of my fellow employees, and they all pointed me to the All Locals Farmers market, which was located at the time at 701 Whaley Street. I nervously asked my then boyfriend, Ian, if he would get up early on Saturday morning and venture to the market. We bought pastured pork from Caw Caw Creek, pastured eggs, lamb, beef, and poultry from Wil- Moore Farms, heirloom tomatoes, organic green onions, and organic microgreens from City Roots farm. I discovered that not only was Ian willing to go with me every Saturday, but he looked forward to our date with relish. I knew even then that we would be together forever.  After each visit, we would come home and cook breakfast with farm fresh eggs, veggies, and pork, and we would enjoy delicious dishes all week long. We actually have chosen to get married at the beautiful event facility at 701 Whaley because not only is it drop-dead gorgeous, but it was our weekly date place. We also hope to serve a City Roots Salad at our wedding from the highly recommended Spotted Salamander Catering. (Note to self: schedule that tasting and book her!)

      Eventually, the market outgrew the space on Whaley Street, and moved and morphed into the Soda City Market held on an entire block of Main Street. There are musicians that play live music, wonderful smells that waft through the streets, and most importantly, it is a mecca for real food junkies like me. I’m not going to lie -- we always spend the most of our money on the pastured heirloom pork from the wonderful people at Caw Caw Creek, but I LOVE to buy the beautiful produce from City Roots Farm. If I still lived in Columbia, I would have signed up for their CSA by now. This past week, I bought their signature Zesty Salad Mix, which is a delightful mix of all of their Microgreens and edible flowers! I also bought the beautiful rainbow carrots, and one of their garden cucumbers. I loved how it was curly! The farmer told me that they cut those up fresh on the farm while they are working, and toss them with vinegar for a quick pickle snack. Since the farmer himself told me that he eats them that way, that’s exactly what I did with my cute little cucumber. I also added a few of the beautiful carrots to the jar, because I have LOVED pickled carrots ever since my grandfather taught me how to pickle veggies when I was a child. 

Ingredients:

1 cucumber, sliced (buy local and/or organic if you can)
5 small rainbow carrots, sliced (or 1 large organic carrot)
5 Tablespoons of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon of raw, local honey (optional)
1 teaspoon of organic pickling spice
¼ teaspoon of Sea Salt

*Mix all the ingredients together chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Store in a mason jar until you are ready to serve them. These will be crispy, crunchy, and tangy.