I’ve been having lots of fun thinking of different ways to use up the fruits and veggies in my weekly produce basket from Suncoast Organics. Each week they offer several interesting and unusual items that I rarely, if ever, see at the supermarket - like the yardlong beans I made last week.
This week, I ordered some organic red okra. I didn’t even know that okra came in red. Since red is one of my signature colors, I ordered some. Then I remembered that no one around here particularly likes okra. Except in gumbo. Or jambalaya. But I wasn’t about to start a Cajun cooking marathon in this 95 degree heat. Nosirree! Until it cools off a little, nobody’s getting much more than salad or a quick stir fry out of me! Okay, I might be persuaded to throw some steaks or chicken on the grill, but that’s it - unless there’s jewelry involved.
But, these lovely little, rosy, red okra deserved more than just being chopped up in a salad. Look how cute they are! They needed to be front and center in whatever I used them in. So, I decided to make pickles out of them. And, not just any old pickles, mind you, but wicked sweet and spicy pickles. I wanted to make okra Wickles!
I’m not a huge pickle fan, but I do love Wickles Pickles. Now, I had absolutely no idea how to make these incredibly good, sweet and spicy pickles. And, for obvious reasons, their seventy year-old secret family recipe was nowhere to be found on the Internet. So I read the ingredient list on the back of a Wickles jar and decided to wing it. Either I’m incredibly talented or incredibly lucky, because my pickled okra turned out fantastic!
The first thing I did was dig out a few pretty mason jars. Then, I sterilized them in a big pot of boiling water. After that, I made the brine for my pickles by simmering a mixture of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, sugar, garlic and a variety of different spices and seasonings. Then, I stuffed the okra in the jars with garlic cloves and chili peppers and topped each jar off with brine. The hardest part about making this recipe was waiting a few days before I could eat the okra!
If you have never made your own pickles before, you MUST try this. It’s so easy! Another plus is that you can adjust the amounts of each ingredient to suit your taste. The measurements I used were basically the result of trial and error. In other words, I just kept adding stuff until it tasted right to me. If you don’t have one of the ingredients that i used, leave it out – or add some others in. There really is no right or wrong in this. The only ingredients that I think are essential are the vinegars, sugar, garlic and chili peppers.
So, go crazy! Make some pickles! You know you want to.
Sweet and Spicy Wickled Okra
Ingredients:
4 16-ounce ( one pint) mason jars with lids
3 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
3 cups granulated sugar
8 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon pickling spices
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon dehydrated onion
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 fresh birds eye chili peppers with a small 1/2-inch slit cut into one side of each
1 to 1 1/2 pounds fresh okra, rinsed and dried
Preparation:
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. when boiling, carefully place the jars and lids into the water, making sure that the jars are filled up with the water too. Boil jars and lids for a minute or so and remove them from the pot. Set aside to cool while you make the pickle brine.
- Combine the rest of the ingredients, except the chilies and okra in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil. You can use the same pot you used to sterilize the jars. When boiling, reduce heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. Taste the brine and adjust the seasonings to your taste.
- Place 2 garlic cloves and 1 chili pepper into each jar. Then, fill each jar with okra, packing it as tightly as you can without breaking the stalks. Fill each jar to the top with brine, completely covering the okra. Cover tightly with the lids and let cool on the counter for about 30 minutes.
- Place jars in the fridge to chill. Wait at least 2 days before using. Longer is better.
- Serve your pickles in salads or with burgers, plopped in a Bloody Mary or right out of the jar.
Enjoy!
Do Chua (Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle)
Sweet and Spicy Pecans and A World of Possibilities
On August 06, 2010 at 3:00pm, w_interrobang (wendy) said...
In a bloody Mary?! Please and thank you!! I’ve never had Wickles, so curiosity got me to click over here earlier than my late-night blog-reading marathon.
YUM!
On August 06, 2010 at 7:36pm, Susan said...
Oh, yes! They are fab in a Bloody Mary! You must try it!
On August 06, 2010 at 3:10pm, UrMomCooks said...
U make okra look good! My CSA gives us red okra sometimes - it is a beautiful thing, no? I have always thought about pickling it, but have never taken the plunge! Yours look fantastic! (If you want an easy quick gumbo try this one! I have had great luck with it! http://tinyurl.com/2755qbz) Thanx! Great post.
On August 06, 2010 at 7:53pm, Susan said...
Thanks for the recipe! Must try.
On August 06, 2010 at 3:57pm, Sean said...
Hi Susan! Sean (also of Hedonia) here. I’ve just started up a new site called Punk Domestics (www.punkdomestics.com), a community site for those of use obsessed with, er, interested in DIY food. It’s sort of like Tastespotting, but specific to the niche. I’d love for you to submit this to the site. Good stuff!
On August 06, 2010 at 7:55pm, Susan said...
Hi, Sean! Glad you like this. Will definitely stop by and check out the new site. Thanks! 8)
On August 06, 2010 at 4:41pm, Betty @ scrambled hen fruit said...
Never heard of Wickles Pickles! Your okra wickles look great. I’m not usually an okra fan unless it’s fried, but these make me want to go out and find some to p(w)ickle. Thanks!
On August 06, 2010 at 4:49pm, Lael Hazan said...
Wow! You make the red okra look luscious. Thanks for giving me another option than frying.
On August 06, 2010 at 7:56pm, Susan said...
My pleasure! Who wants to fry in this heat! 😉
On August 06, 2010 at 6:25pm, Rosa said...
That is a very interesting recipe! I’ve never had okra prepared in that way…
Cheers,
Rosa
On August 07, 2010 at 7:55am, jeanne dyson said...
Those sound sooo good! Will try it next time we get okra! I was timid because I did not have much time and thought you had to do the “boiling bathe” in order to pickle (I used preserve lots of our garden and tree produce in MA) BUt this sounds easy!! Thanks!
On August 07, 2010 at 12:25pm, Paula said...
wow, I`ve never eaten this, but looks really great!
Have a nice time!
Paula
On August 07, 2010 at 9:30pm, Phyllis Kirigin said...
I was about to pickle some Kirbies, but these look even better. Know what you mean by people thinking they don’t like okra. Besides pickiling, or wickling, I have discovered delicious and crisp fried okra croutons.
Phyllis, aka sweetpaprika.wordpress.com
On August 08, 2010 at 11:25am, girlichef said...
Wickled- HA!!! I’ve never seen red okra…and rarely see the green around these parts…but I do like it when I can get it. And I love all things pickled…so yeah, I totally wanted to try some of your wickles! Delish
On August 09, 2010 at 4:29am, Brenda - Aesthetic Dalliances said...
These are so pretty and sound delicious. I love okra, but to be honest, would be at a loss to find something that isn’t cooked to put them in. They aren’t appetizing to me raw, especially growing up eating fried okra in school lunches.
Great job and beautiful pictures.
On August 10, 2010 at 10:29am, Eliana said...
WOW Susan - this is so interesting and creative. You are one talented woman.
On August 11, 2010 at 4:30pm, Erin said...
Yum. I’ve been really into pickling things recently becuase we have so much produce from our garden and canning peppers and onions and okra doesn’t really work. SO, I’m super excited to see this. I love that it’s wicked spicy.
On October 09, 2010 at 12:27pm, jennifer said...
I am going to try this! I am growing green okra and have pickled this already this season, so I will try this recipe with the green okra and see what happens!!!
On October 23, 2010 at 5:39pm, Kathleen said...
I had never had okra before but our Bountiful Baskets brought some a few weeks ago. Having heard my mother cringe at the thought of eating this “slimmy” vegetable, I almost threw it out. I asked around and found out that Plowman’s makes a dilled okra and so decided to can them, adding bit of jalepeno to each jar. They turned out great. Now I wish I had more so I could make your sweet version!!! Next year…
On February 23, 2012 at 10:51am, Victoria said...
Ah! I just tried to copy Wickles a few weeks ago, and while my okra turned out tasty it just wasn’t the same. THANK YOU FOR POSTING! I will definitely give this a shot.
On July 05, 2012 at 9:31pm, Lisa said...
My family LOVES all the wickles products and can go through a jar in no time. I just got all the ingredients to make the okra & I can’t wait to try this. thanks.
On July 15, 2012 at 5:22pm, melanie said...
Would it hurt to process in a water bath for ten or fifteen minutes?
On July 18, 2012 at 10:13pm, Karen said...
I have the same question as Melanie.. Your recipe shows you refridgerating them and eating fairly quickly.. Can they be processed and stored for up to the basic year??
On July 18, 2012 at 10:17pm, Karen said...
I have the same question as Melanie.. Your recipe shows you refrigerating them and eating fairly quickly.. Can they be processed and stored for up to the basic year??
On July 19, 2012 at 11:13am, Lois said...
This recipe sounds delish, but I was wondering… if I want to actually can the Okra, could I just give the jars a 10 minute hot water bath and they would be safe to eat next winter?
On July 09, 2015 at 2:08pm, Bobby said...
I Googled for the recipe for Wicked Okra and found your “CopyCat” recipe which sounded like it would come close to the originals. Thanks for doing the trial and error to get this right!
It sounds like some of your readers don’t realize that there is a company that actually makes these. My MIL brought these back to me on a trip to GA. http://www.wicklespickles.com/product/wicked-okra/ I hadn’t seen them in NC yet, but soon ran across them at our local Food Lion. The problem was that they carry the Wickles brand but only had a limited selection.
I just made 6 pints of these and I did a 15 minute water bath. Next time I’ll only go 10 minutes and you do need to leave a little head space for expansion….about an inch. I’m using a wide mouthed pint jar and the lid flats actually popped up a bit. As the start to cool, I’m going to press down on them to try and get them to seal good. Note to self, leave head space even when doing a water bath and not pressure cooking.
For those that asked about the hot water bath, there are other recipes for okra that use it so I don’t see a problem. Just make sure your flats pop “down” and seal when they cool. And anytime before using make sure the seal is still good before opening and using.
Thanks again for the recipe…Can’t wait to try them!
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