 |
| melon-mangoeing: an historical technique of pickling a stuffed vegetable or fruit. image from video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UhB4iOl-PA |
This post isn't to suggest that any of us make pickles in this way. But I just found this very fascinating.
There's this pickling technique that was used in pre-1900 prairie vegetable gardens called melon-mangoeing -- no association with actual mangoes, however. A type of melon, which was very bland in itself, was hollowed out, filled with finely chopped cabbage, peppers, and onions, then sewn shut and submerged in a brine until the outside and inside was pickled. Melon-mangoeing became a popular method of preserving other vegetables as well, such as peppers and even sweet fruits like peaches.
I heard about this technique in a documentary about vegetable gardening in 1800s Minnesota. The video is about 30 minutes and available on youtube, here: Prairie Yard & Garden: Growing Vegetables in the 1800s, put together by Pioneer Public TV (pickling technique shown around the 11:30 mark and again around the 25:20 mark.)
I'm an historical gardening and cooking geek, so this documentary was right up my alley. I thought some of you might also find the entire video as engaging as I do. Enjoy!
If you do watch the video, please share your thoughts, here, in the comments.
