From quick cures to more ambitious preserving, Becky Krystal provides seven steps to perfection.
If you're looking at any decent vegetable and wondering whether it can be pickled, the answer is probably yes.
At least it is if we're talking about quick pickles, which allow you more flexibility with less work and less stress while still delivering the same enticing vinegar tang, crunchy texture and salty punch you'd get in more traditional pickling.
"There's a lot more freedom with quick pickles," says cookbook author Marisa McClellan, who, in her latest book, The Food in Jars Kitchen: 140 Ways to Cook, Bake, Plate, and Share Your Homemade Pantry, calls quick pickling her favourite way to pickle cucumbers.
In quick pickling, raw or minimally cooked ingredients are merely covered with brine and refrigerated, as opposed to traditional water-bath canning, which involves boiling in water to vacuum-seal a jar.
The former makes it especially appealing to novices and people who like to improvise, because there's less worrying about botulism, an illness caused by a bacteria toxin that proliferates in oxygen-free environments (the toxin-creating bacteria spores don't like acid anyway, so pickles are already unfriendly to them).
Quick-pickled foods are stored in the refrigerator with plenty of oxygen around — in other words, not favourable conditions for the toxin.
Of course, quick pickling has a lot more going for it than "less likely to give you botulism". Another advantage is that your fruit or vegetable of choice can retain better snap since it won't undergo a boiling water bath.
The ease and convenience of quick pickling makes it a great way to use up and extend the shelf life of extra produce. And it creates versatile — not to mention tasty — foods, with no special equipment or skills.
Top pickling tips for getting you started
Pick your veges
Other than the really obvious things you wouldn't want to preserve in vinegar (delicate greens, for instance), you can quick pickle just about any vegetable, or even fruit, you want.
Cucumbers, onion, carrots, peppers, tomatoes? Yes, of course. Cranberries, rhubarb and avocados? You bet.
McClellan's dark horses include snap peas and broccoli or broccolini (broccoli rabe).
Prep your veges
Do your due diligence cleaning your produce, and avoid using anything that has already gotten mouldy or limp.
Cut the vegetables in a way that makes sense for how long you're willing to wait. Sliced jalapenos or cucumbers can be ready in a matter of hours, whereas whole vegetables or larger pieces will need longer to chill out.
If you're using firm or dense vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, asparagus or green beans, McClellan says you should give them a quick blanch first, boiling for about 30 seconds to a minute before dunking them in a bowl of ice water or rinsing them under cold water.
This helps open up the vegetable pores so the brine can begin to seep in and work its magic.
Create your brine
McClellan recommends starting with the universal pickling brine and then customising from there.
The proportions are one part water to one part vinegar, plus salt. You'll need one tablespoon of salt for every cup of water/vinegar (no need to get pickling salt, so use what you prefer).
You have some flexibility to adjust the salt, but McClellan says try not to go below one teaspoon per cup of water. The salt is there for more than flavour, helping to preserve the vegetables and achieve the right texture.
Sugar in the brine is good for flavour balance and colour retention — add about one tablespoon of sugar to one cup of water and one cup of vinegar.
For food safety, traditional pickling requires vinegar with at least 5 percent acidity. That's not as crucial in quick pickling, so in addition to the usual suspects such as distilled white, cider and wine vinegars, try playing around with something such as rice vinegar.
McClellan says you can add ingredients that would otherwise be no-gos in water-bath canning, including olive oil and beer.
Add spices and herbs
Whole spices such as peppercorns, mustard seeds, cloves and cumin seeds are great. Ditto dried dill or thyme.
Or if ground is what you have and like, go for it since you don't need to worry about keeping the brine perfectly clear, McClellan says. Turmeric, for example, adds colour and flavour.
Pack and pour
Be sure you're using a clean container to pack your pickles (we may be quick pickling, but we're not barbarians!), though you don't need to sterilise it. Mason and other glass jars are just as good here as they are in traditional canning, McClellan says.
Be careful to heat glass jars with hot water to reduce the likelihood that the glass will break when it comes in contact with the hot brine. Stay away from flimsy plastic if you're going to be using a hot brine, but reusing peanut butter or mayo jars is fair game.
Submerge your veges
Don't worry if a few tips are sticking out. McClellan says that because the salt in the brine will draw additional water out of the produce (that's why you get that nice crunchy texture), by the time all is said and done, it will be about covered.
Let the pickles cool to about room temperature, put on the lid and refrigerate.
Wait
Typical pickles often require a few weeks to properly cure after a spin through a water bath. The turnaround is much faster with quick pickles. Still, "even the quickest of quick pickles is going to want to be made an hour or two before eating," McClellan says.
For even better flavour and texture, an overnight rest is ideal. Quick pickles can last a few weeks or even a few months. Look for signs of growth such as mould or other yuckies periodically.
"There's no restraint on creativity when it comes to a refrigerator pickle or a quick pickle," McClellan says. "You can really let your imagination run wild."
- The Washington Post