I was working with a new version of this classic pickled salad I am calling “Sherry’s Special Giardiniera Salad” in honor of Sherry Skinner‘s birthday and decided to rework it with some different vegetables, including a southern, classic okra.

The Giardiniera (pronounced jar-din-AIR-a) salad is a common side dish that Italians and Italian Americans often have sitting ready for snacking and as a side, much like it’s American cousin, the pickle. It can often be found in the stores, in the jarred vegetable section, but it’s such an easy dish to make and it’s perfect when you have an abundance of vegetables that do well with the bite of herbs, spices and vinegar.

This version is not heat processes so it’s only good up to a week, if it lasts that long. (There are many recipe that will allow you to heat process these to keep them longer and make them shelf stable.)