Levantine
Palestinian Preservation: Makdous and Pickles
Palestinian preservation traditions — primarily makdous (baby eggplant stuffed with walnuts and chilli, preserved in olive oil) and the broader pickle (mukhalal) tradition — represent the intersection of necessity (preservation before refrigeration) and flavour transformation (ingredients that are good fresh but extraordinary preserved). Makdous specifically demonstrates the Palestinian principle of using olive oil as both a preservation medium and a flavour infusion vehicle.
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Two in town · one not yet within reach.
How the 3 are reached
- In town
- 2 · baby eggplant, garlic
- Not yet within reach
- 1 · red chilli
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
1 kg
30 g
fine salt
for pressing, plus more for the stuffing
Your own market
For the stuffing
150 g
walnut kernels
crushed, not finely ground
Your own market
4 cloves
1–2
red chilli
finely chopped
Not yet within reach of Penticton · each reach is counted
1 tsp
salt
Your own market
To preserve
500 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
enough to cover completely; quantity will vary with jar size
Your own market
Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.
The larder of Penticton →Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Wash the baby eggplants, remove their caps, and cut a deep slit lengthwise into each one, keeping the base intact so it opens like a pocket. Pack them into a colander, salt them generously, and press under a weighted plate for several hours or overnight, so the salt draws out the bitter dark moisture from the core of each eggplant rather than just its skin. They are ready when they feel noticeably firmer and drier to the touch and the liquid pooled beneath them has run dark.
2
Combine the crushed walnuts, garlic, red chilli, and salt in a bowl, mixing until the stuffing coheres into a rough paste. Taste it now — it should read sharp, saline, and distinctly hot, because the flavours will mellow and knit together during the week of preservation, and a timid stuffing will vanish entirely into the eggplant.
3
Squeeze each eggplant firmly between the palms to expel any remaining moisture, then open the slit and pack the walnut stuffing inside, pressing the eggplant closed around the filling. This is where the dish lives or dies: residual water in the jar breaks the seal the olive oil creates over the eggplants, and what should be a slow, fragrant cure becomes spoilage — the eggplant must be as dry as the salting and pressing can make it.
4
Pack the stuffed eggplants tightly into a sterilised 1-litre jar standing upright, then pour over enough extra-virgin olive oil to submerge every eggplant completely, tapping the jar gently so that any trapped air pockets rise and escape, since a pocket of air beneath the oil is as damaging as residual water. The surface of the oil should sit at least 1 cm above the topmost eggplant; seal the jar and set it aside at room temperature, away from direct light.
5
Leave the jar undisturbed for a minimum of one week, during which the oil will deepen in colour and take on the mingled aroma of eggplant, walnut, and chilli. At seven days, open the jar: the oil should smell rounded and deeply savoury, and the eggplants should yield to a gentle press with a silky, supple give that tells you the stuffing and the flesh have become one. They will continue to improve for months thereafter.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Single-estate Palestinian or Lebanese extra-virgin olive oil — cold-pressed, with pronounced bitterness and peppery finish — and freshly harvested walnuts: the oil becomes a condiment in its own right and deserves to begin from the finest available.
02
Estate — A named Greek or Italian extra-virgin olive oil of certified harvest date, paired with whole walnut halves cracked and crushed to order rather than pre-packaged pieces.
03
Market — A good supermarket extra-virgin olive oil — verified by taste for fruitiness, not merely labelled — and fresh walnuts from a reliable supplier. The result is sound and faithful to the tradition.
04
House — Any light-flavoured olive oil and standard pre-packed walnuts. The preservation logic still holds; the infused oil will lack complexity, but the makdous will keep and be edible.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. After pressing, each eggplant feels firm and dry, with no moisture weeping from the cut surface when squeezed.
◇Sight. The olive oil in the sealed jar completely submerges all eggplants with at least 1 cm of oil above the top layer — no eggplant breaks the surface.
◇Smell. After one week, the opened jar releases a rounded, savoury aroma in which olive oil, walnut, and chilli are fused rather than separate.
◇Touch. At one week, an eggplant pressed gently through the jar yields with a silky softness, indicating the cure is complete.
◇Where it lives or dies. The eggplants must be pressed until entirely free of bitter moisture before jarring; any residual water breaks the anaerobic environment the olive oil creates and permits bacterial growth.
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VI
What to Pour
A dry, unoaked white wine with sufficient acidity to cut the oil richness — a Levantine Viognier or a crisp Lebanese white — or, in the spirit of the table, strong Arabic coffee served alongside as a counterpoint to the salt and fat.
The whole pairingPillar VII
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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen
Sourced through Provenance