Recently, René Redzepi has been tweeting about traditional lactic-acid pickling and of course, Mennonite grandmas have been tweeting about it for hundreds of years. Anyway, it seems right that one pickle-maker with a history of mixing the old and the new has now got 600 pounds of ramps getting all fizzy right now in old bourbon barrels in Gowanus. Brooklyn Brine founder Shamus Jones tells us his long-in-the-works retail shop has finally opened on President Street. When production is on, which is basically every day except Sunday, the company’s new storefront will be selling its full line up front, plus an ever-changing menu of completely fresh and seasonal lacto-fermented produce, including sunchokes and asparagus this summer. Because they are fermented and aged in whiskey barrels — not simply brined and dropped into jars — these pickles will only be available at the store, which Jones says will also be used for classes. “Rather than looking into a way to bring our production up and finishing 15,000 jars a day, we wanted to do something different,” he says, gesturing to a batch of garlic scapes. “It tells you when it’s ready.”
Brooklyn Brine, 574A President St., nr. Fourth Ave., Brooklyn
