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Hey there, I'm Mongastigu, their co host

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of Part Time Genius, one of the founders of Mental

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Flaws. And this is Humans Growing

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Stuff, a collaboration from I Heart

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Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow.

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Our goal is to make this the most human

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show about plants you'll ever

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listen to, and along the way, we'll share inspiring

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stories, tips and tricks to nurture

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your plant addiction, and just enough

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signs to make you sound like an expert. Now

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we are on summer break right now, but because

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Molly and I cannot stop our plant

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addictions, we are bringing you some

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mini episodes to brighten up your feed

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and grow your plant curiosity. Throughout

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the summer, we'll be dropping incredible stories

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from growers, advice from experts,

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and we'll have some fun conversations around

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fascinating plant facts. For

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today's special bonus episode, we're talking

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about one of our favorite ways to preserve

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your garden produce. That's right,

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we're talking about pickling. So

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I am a sucker for all types

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of pickled vegetables. I like dill

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pickles and bread and butter

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pickles. I like pickled beets and pickled

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helpinos. I love that oshenko

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which is the Japanese word for pickles, literally

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means fragrant dish. I

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can't go into a Korean shop without picking up some

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kimchi or spicy pickle cabbage. If

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I'm at a barbecue joint, I'll order fried

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pickles. And I love Indian pickles so much

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that any Indian meal, no

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matter how delicious the meal is, I

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will quietly ask for a side of

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Launcha or as it's called,

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which is a salty and tangy pickle,

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because to me, pickles always

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make a meal more perfect. I

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like pickles so much that my favorite kids

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book, and this is no joke, is

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Pickles the Fire Cat. I've actually

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referenced that in two different intros to books

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I've written, so it's no wonder that one

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of my favorite parts of this was chatting with

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Katie Costs in season two. She is

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the executive chef at the Nashville restaurant

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Husk, where they have their own in house pickling program,

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and when I asked her about the restaurant's pickling practices,

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it was so great to hear her get

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as excited about pickling as

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I do. One

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of my favorite things to do, that little pain

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that the can makes whenever the lid seals

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is like placeless to me. It's

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a lost art. Nobody does it anymore, and

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or nobody at a small scale does

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it anymore, you know. And I thought it was funny during

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the pandemic, everybody got into baking

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bread and I walked down the aisle and all the

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mason jars were there, and I would go to the farmer's

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room every week. And that's all I did throughout

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the whole pandemic. Is I just can't all summer right

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now. I've got a couple of things.

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I have a summertime carrot

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kim chee that we made, which was phenomenal.

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Um. I also have a mushroom kim chee, lots

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of pickled mushrooms, um. And

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then all my preserved tomatoes. This

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is kind of the last end of the sea eason, right

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before we hit springtime and we get

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ready for all those wonderful springtime

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vegetables. So right

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now I'm preserving little things

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from winter time, Like I really love turnups in

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the wintertime because they're sweeter. I alter

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my pickling recipe according

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to the vegetable that I'm doing. I eat

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almost everything rawfers before I decide

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to to pickle it and how I'm gonna

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pickle it? How much am I gonna do a salt pickling liquid

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or am I gonna do uh, you know, no

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pickling liquid and just can it you know, in water

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and preserve it as is. But yeah,

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I mean it's all about the vegetable now.

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Pickling is such a great way to preserve

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the harvest from your backyard garden. And

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the crazy thing is that you can pickle almost

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anything in your vegetable garden artichokes,

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beans, cauliflower, cabbage,

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even melons, and if you're in more

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exotic locales, mangoes

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and pineapples actually work too. But

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and this was something I learned from another chef on

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this program, the key to the perfect

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pickle produce is crispness.

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So you want to pickle your fruits and vegetables

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when they're still fresh and firm.

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And there's even a saying for this. It goes crisp

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into the brine, crisp out of the brine.

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Anyway, there's a whole world of pickling

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history, facts and helpful recipes

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out there. For example, did you know there's more

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than one way to pickle something instead

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of the traditional vinegar briane method.

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You can also pickle by simply using

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salt. And one of my favorite pickle

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facts is about Cleopatra, the

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famously beautiful Egyptian

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queen. She actually thought her beauty

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was derived from all the pickles she

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regularly ate, but

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that isn't all. According to history dot

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com, Roman emperors, including Julius

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Caesar, would insist their soldiers

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eight pickles before they went to battle

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because they believe the Brian cucumbers made

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their forces stronger. Kind

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of like Popeye and that Cannus

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finach so in cell

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Rason of one of my favorite ways to utilize

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the bounty of the garden. I'm sharing some

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of my favorite pickle facts today.

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One Deli pickles. Do

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you know why Delis serve pickles with sandwiches.

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It's because the pickle is supposed to be a palate

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cleanser after your mouth

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gets bored after a few bites of the sandwich.

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Biting into a pickle resets your

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taste buds with a burst of acid so

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that when you return to the sandwich, the flavors

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seem completely fresh to your mouth. Two

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kool Aid pickles in

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the Mississippi delta. Kool Aid pickles

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are a super popular treat with

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kids. The easiest way to make kool

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Aid pickles is to use a jar of

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already pickled cucumbers. You dissolve

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sugar and your drink packet flavor

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of choice into the pickle juice and

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then add the pickles back in and let them

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sit for about a week, and the

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bright red and purple pickles don't always

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look that appetizing. Kids have

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been going crazy for the sweet and puckery

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treat and they show up at general stores to pay

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a dollar for a pickle three.

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The next time you're playing sports, consider grabbing

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a jar of pickle juice instead

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of the gatorade. Pickle juice is

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actually a popular sports drink alternative

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for athletes, especially marathon runners.

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According to Women's Running Researchers

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believe the vinegar and the pickle brine relieves

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cramping with the help of reaction triggered

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by the acetic acid. The salt and

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pickle juice can also help athletes restore

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sodium levels after sweating, which

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can be key to preventing dehydration for

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TB and P sandwiches. Did

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you know that peanut butter and pickle sandwiches used

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to be a thing. According to the New York

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Times, the sandwiches were popular during the Great

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Depression and can be found on restaurant menus

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across the country, and they gained

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in popular clarity for a while with Bachelor's

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partially because peanut butter and pickles

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were often two staples you could find

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in the back of your fridge. Now,

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if you're going to try it, the writer Dwight

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Gardner recommends using bread and

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butter pickles instead of the dill varieties,

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and this is how he puts it quote.

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Their sweetness adds a flavor bump

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like a briny, sophisticated adult

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version of jelly.

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Five Pickle vegetables can be great

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for your gut health. Naturally fermented

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favorites like kinchi contained probiotics,

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which are these micro organisms that can assist

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in the digestion process.

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And finally, six, my favorite

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pickle fact of all time, which comes straight

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out of mental Floss. In Dary

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and Springs, Michigan, a k a. The

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Christmas Pickle Capital of the World, there

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is a pickle parade every December

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that's led by who else none

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other than the Grand Bill Moister. The

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best and strangest part of this parade

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is that as he leads the whole thing,

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he tosses out fresh pickles to all

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the hungry parade watchers out there.

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I've put this on my calendar and i can't wait

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to go out there and cash some pickles. That's

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it for today's bonus episode, but check back here

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again soon for more bonus episodes this summer.

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And don't forget no matter what season it is

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or where you're at in your gardening journey, there's

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some incredible resources waiting for you

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on the Miracle Grow website. Humans

8:37

Growing Stuff is a collaboration from My Heart Radio

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and your friends at Miracle Grow. Our

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show is written and produced by

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Molly Sosha and Mean Monga together.

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This episode was edited and engineered

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by our pal Matt Stillo. Thank

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you so much for listening.