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| They actually let me near the table... |
Happy New Year and welcome to 2013!! Hard to believe this is the 4th year I've been doing this blog.
While on a routine CostCo run, we ran across a sample table where Safie's was giving out samples of all of their varieties of pickled goodies. Safie's Specialty Foods is a Michigan company located in Mt. Clemens, a northeast suburb of Detroit, and has special weekends at CostCo and sells regularly at area stores such as Meijer and Whole Foods.
Pickled Beets. These are our first experience with Safie's, which we tasted at Detroit's famous Eastern Market farmer's market. Wow! Perfect blend of sweet and sour and not mushy or vinegary like some pickled beets can get. Sometimes pickled beet recipes have heavy doses of cinnamon or other single flavors--not Safie's--the balance of spices and flavors are really good. My only gripe is that the pieces are pretty big and can be difficult to get out of the jar! From there, they seem to make it into your mouth just fine, although smaller cut size would help.
Hot & Zesty Garden Mix. Pickled cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower and yellow peppers with some heat thrown in . Like all of Safie's offerings, the vinegar taste is just right, as compared to cross-town rival, McClure's, which can be very bitey. The cauliflower was still firm and just this side of crunchy...perfection.
Pickled Asparagus. Asparagus is a Michigan favorite, as it grows wherever you find wet but sandy spots all over the state. Pickled asparagus is a great way to enjoy it year round, and Safie's did a fine job. Not too much spicing, and just the right vinegar lets the subtle flavor of the asparagus come through. Safie's uses relatively young asparagus, so you get none of the big, nasty fibrous chunks that are sometimes served. And again, its still firm enough to have a little crunch.
Dill Pickle Beans. Safie's makes 2 varieties, regular and Hot & Tangy. They only had the regular variety this weekend. In a nutshell, nice crunch, great flavor and good vinegar strength. Gotta get me some of the Hot & Tangy...
Old-Fashioned Bread & Butter Pickles. A nice amount of sweet and lots of "goodies" in the jar make these very tasty, and everything you'd expect out of something labeled "Old-Fashioned". Nice crunch, too...sometimes B&B pickles can be pretty mushy.
Deli-Style Dill Pickles. The dill and garlic flavors really come through in these. They weren't as crisp as I'd have expected, but the flavor was really nice. The jars on their website are alot more colorful and appetizing than what they served at the table, so I'm not sure I was getting their absolute best to sample...nonetheless, flavor was still very good.
Safie's has a bunch of other jarred goodies in their product line. If you get a chance, you gotta check out this gem of the Great Lakes state. Do NOT pass up the pickled beets--they're positively perfect and the best I've ever tasted.
Pickles are always tricky and risky to handle because of their delicate tendencies of getting rot so easily plus maintain the proportion of vinegar and spices is a tough job.
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