Dill
pickles go well with a cheese sarnie
January and February are seen to be the favourite time for
us gardeners to browse the seed catalogues for this year’s crops. There is
something very satisfying looking at the pretty pictures of healthy vegetables,
then ordering far too many varieties to be able to grow without totally ignoring
the spacing recommendations. Or is that just me?
There is an element of wishful thinking and forward planning
though when ordering seeds and what better time to think about ordering a few
vegetables that you will be able to use for pickling so you can enjoy the
fruits of your labour all year around from the convenience of a glass jar. So
not only could you look for particular pickle friendly varieties of your
favourite veg, you can also start saving any glass jars with sealable lids that
you find – You will need them.
Pickles
You can pickle most vegetables. Someone gave me a lovely jar
of home grown pickled beetroot this week which got my thinking I should do my
own again. I did make pickled onions and beetroot for a long time but
eventually took to buying the mass produced ones from the shops as they were
more convenient. They aren’t the same as your own home made ones though. Cheaper
to buy than make maybe but you can’t put a price on the smug satisfaction you
get knowing there are no artificial preservatives or added chemicals in the mix
of your own produce. So this year I’ll
be doing at least a jar or two of onions.
Excellent pickles rely on high-quality, fresh ingredients.
Producing your own means you can choose the very best produce and opens the
door to exploring many different flavours and effects that can be achieved
through spicing and fermentation. Some
say you can pickle almost any veg providing it is fresh and unblemished and
others generally make their pickles from the oddments, mishapes and damaged
crops that won’t store well as they can
be cleaned and chopped up so no-one is any the wiser.
Good pickling is about suspending veg at its peak in clear
animation: to preserve and even boost its nutritional content.
How long to keep your
pickles before eating
Recipes vary enormously with some refrigerator or quick
pickles being ready to eat within a day or two. Others, such as raw pickled
onions, need six months or more to mature and delicacies like lime pickle can
improve with years.
As a rough guide, veg sliced thinly or with a high water and
sugar content requires less pickling time than those with more starch and
larger proportions. Pickles matured for less time will generally be crunchier
and punchier than those that have been left to mature, so a good rule is to go
with what you like. Provided the pickles have been prepared and sealed
carefully they will keep for a long time
You might only need around four or five cups so of cut
vegetables to make enough jars to last the year.
Making the Pickles.
An introduction
Salt Soak
The first step in making pickled vegetables is to soak them
in salt or a strong saltwater solution for at least 3 hours, or sometimes
overnight. Some moisture is drawn from the tissues, which helps to preserve
crisp texture through the pickling process. Sea salt is preferred, then rinse
the vegetables in cold water several times to remove excess salt when the
soaking time is up.
Vinegar Brine
The liquid in pickles is comprised of vinegar, sugar and
sometimes water, along with subtle spicy flavours that give pickles their tanginess.
You can use either clear distilled vinegar or amber-coloured malt or cider
vinegar, depending on the results you want.
Pickling Jars
After washing and removing the sticky label place the jars
in an oven, you can get the herbs and spices ready for seasoning the pickles as
the jars sterilize. There are all sorts of things you can use depending on your
taste, garlic, dill, coriander, anything goes.
Sealing
There are methods to process the jars by placing them in hot
water to seal them up. I’ve never done this so if you feel the need I would do
a bit of research first.
Some Vegetables to
Pickle
- Radishes- any will do
- Cucumbers - Small, firm-fleshed Kirby cucumbers work best here.
- Carrots – Cut them up into ribbons so the vinegar soaks through them.
- Red and white onions
- Red Cabbage
- Cauliflower – guaranteed to be crunchy
- Green beans -pickled for an irresistible snack
- Aubergine- Sliced thinly
As I mentioned, you could pickle almost anything so it’s a
great opportunity to have a play when you have abundance.
