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Chefs often take the long view, pickling and preserving bountiful produce during harvest season to reduce waste and let guests relive the taste of summer year-round. The proof? Jake Linzinmeir, co-owner of Jovanina’s Broken Italian in LoDo, once bought an entire pallet of foraged chanterelles because “the price was just too good.” He and his staff spent a day preserving the delicate mushrooms to top hearty pastas and pizzas long past the growing season.
Read More: Jovanina’s Broken Italian Is Like a LoDo Love Letter
The chef keeps a formidable crock of giardiniera—carrot, celery, garlic, and other veggies held in stasis through the alchemy of salt, vinegar, and olive oil—on hand to add crunch and zing to mortadella sandwiches. Olathe sweet corn goes into jars with Fresno chiles and rice wine vinegar. “We use this all winter long, mostly on rosemary bone marrow,” Linzinmeir says.
The kitchen even preserves watermelon and lemon rinds—not local, but abundant and often discarded in Italian kitchens—for Jovanina’s cocktail program. Cucumbers, cipollini onions, and strawberries are other annual standbys. So for now, enjoy your sweet corn straight from the field, but when the days get short, head to Jovanina’s for a little sunshine on your plate. 1520 Blake St., Denver (Union Station)
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