Heart of Palm Pickles

This is an heirloom pickle recipe, the kind your great-aunt might have made from a hand-written recipe card stained with turmeric. Heart of palm gets the classic chow-chow treatment of mustard seed, turmeric, sugar, and cider vinegar, turning it into a bright yellow, sweet-tangy condiment that pairs beautifully with cold meats, cheese plates, and Southern-style greens.

The two-day salt soak is old country-kitchen wisdom. Salting the heart of palm first draws out excess moisture and firms the texture so the pickle stays crisp through canning. Skip it and you’ll end up with soft, floppy pickles that fall apart on the fork.

The mustard and flour combination makes this distinctive. Instead of a thin vinegar brine, you get a lightly thickened mustard-vinegar sauce that clings to each piece. It’s closer to a piccalilli or chow-chow than a dill pickle, with turmeric delivering that signature school-bus yellow color.

Kitchen Tips

• Trim every bit of tough fiber. Heart of palm looks uniform but has stringy sections that stay chewy no matter how long you pickle them.
• Boil the vinegar sauce slowly and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. The flour will clump if left untended, and burnt flour ruins the jar.
• Use proper canning technique: hot jars, hot seals, boiling water bath for 10 minutes, then invert to test the seal. Food safety is key.

Variations

• Add sliced red bell pepper and small onion for a chow-chow style relish with more color and bite.
• Stir in 1-2 tablespoons of horseradish for a sharper kick that wakes up sandwich spreads.
• Use white vinegar instead of cider for a cleaner, more neutral tang that lets the mustard shine.