Recipe Shares from Kelly McVicker

At the same time McVicker’s new pickling production line came to an abrupt halt in March 2020, she released her book Essential Vegetable Fermentation: 70 Inventive Recipes to Make Your Own Pickles, Kraut, Kimchi, and More. Even without the usual promotion, the book has hit home with the captive home-cooking audience, getting book sales bubbling.

Filled with versatile recipes, fermentation tips and tutorials, it has both recipes for ferments and menu ideas to cook with them. This book goes way beyond pickles—and shows off the range and health benefits of fermented foods. Here in the Edible Test Kitchen, we made McVicker’s Fermented Pico De Gallo recipe from her book—a great way to preserve and prolong the abundance of tomatoes during the Bay Area summer months.

And in the spirit of this making lemonade out of lemons in this Edible issue, we asked McVicker if she’d share an exclusive recipe for Preserved Lemons from her treasured not-yet-published home collection. And if you're wondering what to do with your jar of preserved lemons, Kelly has also shared her Preserved Lemon & Herb Vinaigrette recipe.