Pickles and Preserves

They’ll pickle anything in Iran; and if they cannot pickle it, then they’ll preserve it. My mother-in-law brings back all sorts of funny pickles from her home town of Kermanshah, where wild herbs and vegetables and fruit grow with reckless abandon on the surrounding mountainsides – half the stuff in these jars I am still trying to identify!

Of course, pickling, preserving and bottling are arts for which the average British housewife/husband has little time these days. Everything seems to be available all of the time, and so there is no need to preserve the best of a season for sampling later in the year. But we are missing out. Pickles are really big in Iran, and every household has its own batch of recipes. And it’s actually a great hobby – one can play endlessly with the spices and ingredients. Here are just a few of our favourites.