Zing and bite

I have some quick pickles in my fridge. They’re called acar: about four different types of vegetables tossed with tamarind and a spice paste, making them sour and crunchy and slightly sweet. They’re good to go pretty much straight after they’re made, hence “quick”. Also in the fridge, some homemade kimchi I use to flavour my fried rice. And on the windowsill, a glass jar lies in wait, topped to the brim with colourful cherry tomatoes in brine. I’ll eat them with pasta, eventually. What a convenient way of cooking.

Differentiating between pickling and fermentation can be hand-wavy, and even within the two broad terms there are various types and methods. All pickling is fermentation, but only some fermentation is pickling. Pickles are simply preserved in brine or acid. Fermentation is a transformation, wherein we try to inhibit bad bacteria and let the