What is Pepquino, you may ask? That’s what I thought as saw these tiny vegetables looking like micro watermelons. Freaks of nature or genetically engineered? Pepquinos are a native and ancient species from South America and marketed and brought to world by the Dutch company Koppert Kress.
Looking like watermelon on the outside, they are green on in the inside and have a sour like cucumber taste. You can pop them in your mouth raw , or pickle them, as I did.I can even imagine a fantastic cucumber like martini.Use your foodie imagination. I wanted to play with sweet and sour with some acidity. Pepquinos Availability is from April to November .
I cant go throughout summer without canning or pickling something and I quickly went to work on the Pequinos. I had some Daikon Radish and rainbow hued carrots , which once in the hot brine gave the liquid a pinkish hue. I love my relish and have been eating it with sandwiches, cheeses, pates, etc. You can process the batch or just refrigerate immediately if you plan to serve and consume within the next few weeks. The Pepquinos will definitely be a conversation starter with your guests.
- 8 oz Pepquinos
- 4 rainbow hues carrots , peeled and sliced into rounds
- 1 yellow onion sliced into rings
- ½ of a large Daikon Radish, peeled and cut into strips
- ⅓ cup Kosher Salt
- Brine solution of 1 part sugar to 2 parts vinegar
- 2 dried chili peppers per canning jar
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- Prep your vegetables .
- Wash your Pepquinos.
- Peel and slice your carrots, onions and Daikon radish.
- In a bowl add your Pepquinos,onions, carrots, Daikon . Add Kosher salt and cover with cold water.Chill overnight or for at least 4 hours.
- Drain vegetables.
- In a sauce pan heat vinegar and sugar with mustard seeds and dried chilies.Heat until a boiling.
- Prep and sanitize your jars (in hot boiling water).
- Pack your vegetables in to the jars and put the hot brine over the vegetables. Slide the dried chilies into the jar and add the lids.
- From this point you can refrigerate to eat immediatlety or process in a water batch for about 7-10 minutes. Don't over-process as you want the vegetables to remain crisp.
Courtney, that looks gorgeous! I absolutely love the colors in this. I’m going ot have to make it a point to look for those!
Yep, you stumped me too…never heard nor saw these and yes I would have thought they are little watermelons.
Thank you for teaching me something new. Your photos are wonderful!
How cute are those little guys. Never seen them in the market before, but they’re a fun find. Pickling is a great idea for anything really because you don’t have to fear eating it right away.
These are so cute! I would spend far too much time holding them up saying, “look – how cute are these?”
Lovely colours in your finished jar of goodies
wow, i haven’t had pepquino’s in sooo long. and the last time i had daikon it was so thinly sliced that i didn’t recognize it. i love the pickled jars. perfect for gifts, especially in early fall!
I always learn something new when I head over to Coco’s kitchen.
I’m a sucker for anything that looks like a miniature something else so these are absolutely adorable. And pickled? Even better.
oh nice pickle and these are new to me
Thanks for introducing me to a new ingredient. Those guys are Too Cute!! And The Beloved loves pickled anything:) I’ll keep my eyes peeled for these guys, Courtney!
Hi Courtney – wow! I love discovering some new on food blogs. I will definitely be on the lookout for these little cuties. Thank you 🙂
Your pickling recipe sounds great.
Hope you are enjoying your summer.
LL
wow pepquino this is new to me…it’s like little water melon it is so interesting.
Oh, I like the carrots very much :-).