Make Pickled Vegetables in 4 Easy Steps

, written by Barbara Pleasant us flag

Carrots and spices for pickling

Cucumbers are so popular as a pickled vegetable that I have heard several gardeners speak of “planting pickles.” I try to make a couple of batches of cucumber dill pickles every summer, but I also like to put by a diverse selection of pickled vegetables from the garden. In addition to bringing surprising colours, flavours and textures to salads and sandwiches, small jars of pickled carrots, dilly beans, squash, turnips or asparagus make good use of small overruns from the garden.

Most of my pickled vegetables are small batches made from only four cups or so of cut vegetables, canned in half-pint canning jars. In addition to being easy to manage, small batches of pickled vegetables are a practical solution for cosmetically flawed vegetables that won’t store well, such as carrots with insect damage near their tops, or turnips that cracked after a heavy rain. When cleaned, trimmed and cut into uniform pieces, the imperfections never show in the finished pickles.

“Salted
Salted asparagus spears

1. Start with a Salt Soak

The first step in making pickled vegetables is to allow the clean, cut vegetables to soak in salt or a strong saltwater solution for at least 3 hours, or sometimes overnight. As the vegetables swim in salt, some moisture is drawn from the tissues, which helps to preserve crisp texture through the pickling process. I use sea salt, and then rinse the vegetables in cold water several times to remove excess salt when the soaking time is up. The rinsed vegetables drip in the colander while I make the pickling brine.

2. Make a Vinegar Brine

The liquid in canned pickles is comprised of vinegar, sugar and sometimes water, along with subtle spicy flavours that give pickles their zip. You can use either clear distilled vinegar or amber-coloured cider vinegar, depending on the results you want. I veer toward distilled vinegar for pickled carrots, asparagus, and French beans in the interest of clear colours, but opt for cider vinegar to help pickled courgette relish look appetizingly rustic.

“Courgette
Courgette relish is an easy alternative to cucumber-based sweet pickle relish.

Recipes vary in whether or not water is added to the vinegar brine, with thick sweet relishes and chutneys using no water at all. Note that water can never exceed the same measure of vinegar and give safe results. For example, pickled French beans with dill, called dilly beans, are done up in a brine that is half water and half vinegar, but that is the limit for diluting vinegar for any pickled vegetable.

Choosing spices for the brine is fun, and I often start with a commercial mixture of pickling spices from the health food store, and add and subtract from its mélange of peppercorns, allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves, dill and mustard seeds. You also can use lemon or orange rind or hot peppers to flavour your brine. I place my chosen spices in a cheesecloth pouch tied up with string, and let it bob about in the simmering brine while I prepare the jars. At this point the kitchen smells heavenly.

“Pickled
Pickled turnips get a colour makeover when combined with beetroot.

3. Prepare and Fill Pickling Jars

After washing them squeaky clean, I place my canning jars in a baking pan and keep them in a warm oven. Meanwhile, I might peel a garlic clove for each one, or trim grape or basil leaves to snug into the jar bottoms. The natural tannins in grape leaves are said to enhance crispness in pickled vegetables, or you can use a well-placed basil leaf as a nest for a sprig of dill or strip of pepper. A chopstick is the perfect tool for arranging these or other adornments in warm jars.

Back to the brine, from which the spice bag can now be removed and composted. Vegetables that are cut into small pieces can be added to the brine and brought back to a simmer, which softens them slightly and helps prevent air bubbles in the jars. Long, shapely vegetables such as carrot sticks, French beans, or asparagus spears can be tightly packed into the warm jars by hand, and then covered with hot brine before the jars are filled and processed.

After filling, I use damp paper towels followed by a wipe with a dry paper towel to double-check the cleanliness of the jar rims.

“Pickled
Pickled carrots, cucumbers and squash

4. Process Your Pickles

The pickled vegetables must be processed to ensure a good seal, which can be done in a water bath or steam canner. When working with little half-pint jars, you often can use a deep pot as a water bath canner. Any pot deep enough to cover the tops of the jars with simmering water will do. Processing the jars for 10 minutes at barely boiling temperatures heats them enough to sterilise the pickled vegetables and trigger the seals to pop into place as the jars cool.

It’s customary to give pickles a few weeks in cool storage to develop their full flavours, but one of the great things about pickled vegetables is that there is no rush to eat them. Protected from heat and light in a cool, dark cabinet, your pickled vegetables will be ready when you are.

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Comments

 
"What can be do with a surfeit of tomatoes?"
jlevyellow on Friday 4 August 2017
"You have so many options with tomatoes that some people just put them in the freezer and decide what to do with them later. I dehydrate at least half of my tomato crop, and can the rest as salsa or marinara sauce."
Barbara Pleasant on Monday 7 August 2017
"I was incoherent when I sent my original question. What I meant to ask was, "What pickling procedure would be best for tomatoes?""
jlevyellow on Monday 7 August 2017
"Sometimes people pickle cherry tomatoes in a vinegar brine, but larger tomatoes don't hold their shapes and turn into a mess. Firm green tomatoes are often pickled or made into relishes, but ripe ones are too soft and juicy. "
Barbara Pleasant on Tuesday 15 August 2017
"My husband is a diabetic. I'd love a bread and butter pickle that wasn't too sweet or used an alternative sweetener recipe!"
Dolly Perry on Wednesday 4 October 2017
"I use Other alternatives to sugar in pickles - like zylithol. WE normally finish the pickles off fast don't know if it will last very long. "
Santjie on Monday 25 December 2017

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