Former telecom executive Dave Ehreth is assisted in making pickles by daughter, Kyra Smith, left, and wife, Lisa.
PD FILE, 2006
His father, an East Coast transplant, guided his young son over to a barrel, raised the lid and let him stop and smell the half-sour kosher dill pickles.
That heady aroma — a whiff of cucumber and garlicky spice blended with a lively backdrop of acid — kicked off a life-long fascination for the Marin County native.
“I became addicted to them,” Ehreth said. “When I was a kid, I'd eat a couple of pounds of pickles in one sitting.”
Ehreth's pickle memories ran so deep that even after launching his own telecommunications company as a high-tech entrepreneur, he could not get the taste and smell out of his brain. To get his mind off the stress of work, he started experimenting with making his own New York-style pickles, like the ones from Tommy's Joynt.
“I tried to make one, but what I didn't know was that you ferment these guys,” he said. “You ferment them with salt.”
The engineer consulted Russian and Jewish cookbooks along with Harold McGee's book, “On Food and Cooking,” to perfect his fermenting technique.
After serving as CEO of Westwave Communications in Santa Rosa for six years, Ehreth sold the rights to his company's software in 2003 and jumped into brining full-time.
The Healdsburg resident rented a warehouse on Grove Street and built a temperature-controlled fermentation room. In the beginning, he was selling pickles to a world that had soured on the product.
“Five to eight years ago, people had no real conception of pickled foods,” he said. “They thought of them as boiled foods in a can. .
.
. When you eat my pickles, you're tasting cucumbers and all kinds of lively flavors, and you're not assaulted by salts and vinegars.”
While Ehreth creates a fresh pickle year-round, most pickling companies wait for the peak of the crop, boil it in vinegar and then can it, he said.
“What they produce is a product that has no cucumber flavor left,” he said. “And you're eating a product that could be up to a year old.”
Surrounded by plastic trash cans, a cucumber-washing machine and a giant walk-in fridge, Ehreth works with a small staff, manufacturing the company's Manhattan-style Fresh Pickles and two kinds of Outrageous Bread-and-Butter Fresh Pickles.
“The bread-and-butter pickles are our summer afternoon barbecue pickle,” he said. “You put them on a hamburger, a grilled chicken or a pulled-pork sandwich.”
The name came about because Southerners were fond of serving tea with bread, butter and sweet pickles, he said. Over time, the term became synonymous with any sweet pickle chip.
“Ours has a different spice profile,” he said. “It's not too sweet, with a little heat on the end.”
When customers started to complain that his bread-and-butter pickles were too hot, Ehreth decided to make a mild chip and a hot-and-spicy chip.
“The spicy one has Thai chiles, red bell pepper and serranos,” he said. “It's not going to blow the back of your head off, but you know you're eating something spicy.”
Ehreth's pickles are now served at many Wine Country eateries, from the Jimtown Store to the Healdsburg Bar and Grill, and are available at independent grocery stores in the North Bay and throughout the West.
“They can bring a kind of brightness into foods, from a falafel to a beautiful duck dish,” Ehreth said. “Jimtown serves my spicy bread-and-butter pickles with their pulled-pork sandwich.”
About three or four years ago, Ehreth expanded his line to include a fresh sauerkraut to top the ever-popular hot dogs of summer barbecues. This is not your stinky variety, but the kinder, gentler sauerkraut of yore.
“When sauerkraut was originally crafted in Europe, they had a crock in the basement, it would acidify, and it was always fresh and raw,” he said. “Here in America, we lost touch with the process and the incredible flavor of fresh sauerkraut.”
Ehreth ferments his sauerkraut for 20 days, creating a crisp and mild sauerkraut that's versatile in the kitchen. He likes to throw it into fish tacos and green enchiladas, to give the dishes a hint of tartness.
Sauerkraut has become a hot seller these days, thanks to proponents of fermentation, who tout its ability to add beneficial flora to your gut.
During fermentation, healthy bacteria are encouraged to grow on the cabbage or cucumber. The good bacteria digests the vegetable's sugars and produces lactic acid, which changes the flavor and helps preserve the veggie. By eating fermented foods, you introduce healthy bacteria, which can regulate the growth of bad bacteria.
“This is the oldest method of food preservation there is,” Ehreth said. “Once you encourage the right culture to grow, it will discourage the wrong bacteria.”
Although he got into fermenting for the taste, Ehreth gives credence to the health claims of the fermentation movement. Despite working harder than ever, he has not been sick a day since starting his pickle business.
Ehreth also touts the benefits of eating all-natural products made the old-fashioned way, without preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup or dyes.
“Our mission is simply to put one more thing on the grocery shelf that's as good as you can make yourself,” he said. “When you don't have the time, I'll make it for you, and you can always count on it.”
“Nearly everything in your summer vegetable garden can be pickled using natural fermentation,” Ehreth said. “With the addition of a little salt, spices and creativity, you can continue to enjoy the fruit of your garden all winter long.
“Here's an example of how a basic kosher pickle is made. You can use this same technique with nearly every other vegetable from the garden.”
Required equipment: 8-quart stainless steel pot or pickling crock; porcelain plate that will closely fit inside the pot or crock; cheesecloth sufficient to cover the pot or crock; twine to secure the cheesecloth.
Basic Natural Kosher Pickles
Makes 5-6 pounds pickles
5 pounds pickling fresh pickling cucumbers (it's important that they are really fresh)
2 gallons non-chlorinated water
2 cups kosher salt (make sure to use kosher salt)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons pickling spice
To make the brine, combine water, salt and pickling spice in a pot, bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Thoroughly wash and sanitize the pickling pot and plate. Wash cucumbers and place in pot. Add chopped garlic. Cover with the cooled brine to one inch above the cucumbers. Place plate over the cucumbers and press to submerge the cucumbers, preventing any part of the cucumbers from touching air. Cover with cheesecloth secured with twine. Place pickles in a cool location; 62-68º F is ideal.
On day 1-3, stir the surface of the brine each day
On day 4-7, stir brine and check for pleasant pickle aroma
On day 7-15, stir brine, sample pickles each day for tartness. When the pickles are to your liking, place them in a covered container and place in the refrigerator. The ideal brine will be cloudy and lightly grey, the pickles will have a pleasant tan color.
If any growth appears on the surface of your brine during the process, thoroughly skim off and discard. If any off color or off odors appear, discard the entire batch and try again, with a focus on sanitizing.
You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com.
<p>David Ehreth fell in love with pickles after paying a visit to Tommy's Joynt, an old-fashioned hofbrau that's been in San Francisco forever.</p><p>His father, an East Coast transplant, guided his young son over to a barrel, raised the lid and let him stop and smell the half-sour kosher dill pickles.</p><p>That heady aroma — a whiff of cucumber and garlicky spice blended with a lively backdrop of acid — kicked off a life-long fascination for the Marin County native.</p><p>“I became addicted to them,” Ehreth said. “When I was a kid, I'd eat a couple of pounds of pickles in one sitting.”</p><p>Ehreth's pickle memories ran so deep that even after launching his own telecommunications company as a high-tech entrepreneur, he could not get the taste and smell out of his brain. To get his mind off the stress of work, he started experimenting with making his own New York-style pickles, like the ones from Tommy's Joynt.</p><p>“I tried to make one, but what I didn't know was that you ferment these guys,” he said. “You ferment them with salt.”</p><p>The engineer consulted Russian and Jewish cookbooks along with Harold McGee's book, “On Food and Cooking,” to perfect his fermenting technique.</p><p>After serving as CEO of Westwave Communications in Santa Rosa for six years, Ehreth sold the rights to his company's software in 2003 and jumped into brining full-time.</p><p>The Healdsburg resident rented a warehouse on Grove Street and built a temperature-controlled fermentation room. In the beginning, he was selling pickles to a world that had soured <NO1><NO>on the product.</p><p>“Five to eight years ago, people had no real conception of pickled foods,” he said. “They thought of them as boiled foods in a can. .<TH>.<TH>. When you eat my pickles, you're tasting cucumbers and all kinds of lively flavors, and you're not assaulted by salts and vinegars.”</p><p>While Ehreth creates a fresh pickle year-round, most pickling companies wait for the peak of the crop, boil it in vinegar and then can it, he said.</p><p>“What they produce is a product that has no cucumber flavor left,” he said. “And you're eating a product that could be up to a year old.”</p><p>Surrounded by plastic trash cans, a cucumber-washing machine and a giant walk-in fridge, Ehreth works with a small staff, manufacturing the company's Manhattan-style Fresh Pickles and two kinds of Outrageous Bread-and-Butter Fresh Pickles.</p><p>“The bread-and-butter pickles are our summer afternoon barbecue pickle,” he said. “You put them on a hamburger, a grilled chicken or a pulled-pork sandwich.”</p><p>The name came about because Southerners were fond of serving tea with bread, butter and sweet pickles, he said. Over time, the term became synonymous with any sweet pickle chip.</p><p>“Ours has a different spice profile,” he said. “It's not too sweet, with a little heat on the end.”</p><p>When customers started to complain that his bread-and-butter pickles were too hot, Ehreth decided to make a mild chip and a hot-and-spicy chip.</p><p>“The spicy one has Thai chiles, red bell pepper and serranos,” he said. “It's not going to blow the back of your head off, but you know you're eating something spicy.”</p><p>Ehreth's pickles are now served at many Wine Country eateries, from the Jimtown Store to the Healdsburg Bar and Grill, and are available at independent grocery stores in the North Bay and throughout the West.</p><p>“They can bring a kind of brightness into foods, from a falafel to a beautiful duck dish,” Ehreth said. “Jimtown serves my spicy bread-and-butter pickles with their pulled-pork sandwich.”</p><p>About three or four years ago, Ehreth expanded his line to include a fresh sauerkraut to top the ever-popular hot dogs of summer barbecues. This is not your stinky variety, but the kinder, gentler sauerkraut of yore.</p><p>“When sauerkraut was originally crafted in Europe, they had a crock in the basement, it would acidify, and it was always fresh and raw,” he said. “Here in America, we lost touch with the process and the incredible flavor of fresh sauerkraut.”</p><p>Ehreth ferments his sauerkraut for 20 days, creating a crisp and mild sauerkraut that's versatile in the kitchen. He likes to throw it into fish tacos and green enchiladas, to give the dishes a hint of tartness.</p><p>Sauerkraut has become a hot seller these days, thanks to proponents of fermentation, who tout its ability to add beneficial flora to your gut.</p><p>During fermentation, healthy bacteria are encouraged to grow on the cabbage or cucumber. The good bacteria digests the vegetable's sugars and produces lactic acid, which changes the flavor and helps preserve the veggie. By eating fermented foods, you introduce healthy bacteria, which can regulate the growth of bad bacteria. </p><p><NO1><NO><NO1><NO><NO1><NO>“This is the oldest method of food preservation there is,” Ehreth said. “Once you encourage the right culture to grow, it will discourage the wrong bacteria.”</p><p>Although he got into fermenting for the taste, Ehreth gives credence to the health claims of the fermentation movement. Despite working harder than ever, he has not been sick a day since starting his pickle business.</p><p>Ehreth also touts the benefits of eating all-natural products made the old-fashioned way, without preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup or dyes.</p><p>“Our mission is simply to put one more thing on the grocery shelf that's as good as you can make yourself,” he said. “When you don't have the time, I'll make it for you, and you can always count on it.”</p><p><EL10><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><IP9><QC></p><p>“Nearly everything in your summer vegetable garden can be pickled using natural fermentation,” Ehreth said. “With the addition of a little salt, spices and creativity, you can continue to enjoy the fruit of your garden all winter long.</p><p>“Here's an example of how a basic kosher pickle is made. You can use this same technique with nearly every other vegetable from the garden.”</p><p>Required equipment: 8-quart stainless steel pot or pickling crock; porcelain plate that will closely fit inside the pot or crock; cheesecloth sufficient to cover the pot or crock; twine to secure the cheesecloth.</p><p>Basic Natural Kosher Pickles</p><p>Makes 5-6 pounds pickles</p><p>5 pounds pickling fresh pickling cucumbers (it's important that they are really fresh)</p><p>2 gallons non-chlorinated water</p><p>2 cups kosher salt (make sure to use kosher salt)</p><p>8 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped</p><p>4 tablespoons pickling spice</p><p>To make the brine, combine water, salt and pickling spice in a pot, bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Thoroughly wash and sanitize the pickling pot and plate. Wash cucumbers and place in pot. Add chopped garlic. Cover with the cooled brine to one inch above the cucumbers. Place plate over the cucumbers and press to submerge the cucumbers, preventing any part of the cucumbers from touching air. Cover with cheesecloth secured with twine. Place pickles in a cool location; 62-68º F is ideal.</p><p>On day 1-3, stir the surface of the brine each day</p><p>On day 4-7, stir brine and check for pleasant pickle aroma</p><p>On day 7-15, stir brine, sample pickles each day for tartness. When the pickles are to your liking, place them in a covered container and place in the refrigerator. The ideal brine will be cloudy and lightly grey, the pickles will have a pleasant tan color.</p><p>If any growth appears on the surface of your brine during the process, thoroughly skim off and discard. If any off color or off odors appear, discard the entire batch and try again, with a focus on sanitizing. </p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com.</p>