Best easy Pickle Recipes; Go Beyond the Cucumber! (2024)

FAQs

What else can I pickle besides cucumbers? ›

Beyond the classic cucumbers, other fruits and vegetables that work well for pickles include asparagus, beets, bell peppers, blueberries, cauliflower, carrots, cherries, fennel, ginger, grapes, green beans, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, peaches, peppers, radishes, ramps, rhubarb, strawberries, squash, tomatoes, turnips, ...

This is a basic 3-2-1 pickle recipe—three parts vinegar, two parts water, one part sugar. Salt and spices are totally up to you. You can also reduce the amount of sugar for a more savory pickle brine.

To make refrigerator dill pickles, mix sliced cucumbers with vinegar, salt, sugar, dill, garlic and onion. Put them in a jar with a tight lid. Shake the jar a couple of times a day for five days. The pickles will be ready to eat in five days to one week.

Some common foods that are regularly pickled include cucumbers, carrots, onions, beets, peppers, and cabbage. However, there are numerous other foods that can be pickled, such as green beans, asparagus, watermelon rind, eggs, and even fish.

Any basic vinegar is game — white vinegar, apple cider, white wine, and rice vinegar all work well. You can use these vinegars alone or in combination. Steer clear of aged or concentrated vinegars like balsamic or malt vinegar for pickling.

The classic ratio is super easy to remember and is easily scale-able depending on how many pickles you're making. It's 100% vinegar, 50% water, 25% sugar and 12.5% kosher salt by weight. So for example, 200g vinegar, 100g water, 50g sugar and 25g kosher salt (again, you can scale this up or down!).

Most pickle recipes call for distilled white vinegar. This is the clear, colorless vinegar made by fermenting grains. It has a mellow aroma, tart acid flavor and does not affect the color of light-colored vegetables or fruits.

The taste of your pickled vegetables can be greatly changed by toasting spices. This is because toasting spices cause the natural oils of a spice to be released, which in turn amplifies the flavors.

What makes pickles delicious? ›

Pickles are made by soaking cucumbers and other vegetables in a brine solution consisting of vinegar, salt and spices. Vinegar helps preserve pickles, and it contributes to the pickles' slightly sour taste.

From time to time pickled cucumber products can get a red coloration indicative of benign spoilage bacteria. Though this doesn't happen often, it can still be an unpleasant experience. ARS scientists in the Food Science Research Unit (FSRU) in Raleigh, North Carolina, have found its cause, how to prevent it, and more.

For a quick and easy way to help ensure crisp pickles: soak cucumbers in ice water for 4 to 5 hours before pickling. This is a safer method for making crisp pickles. Using lime, or calcium hydroxide, in solution for soaking cucumbers changes the amount of acid in the cucumber tissue.

You will need a recipe, most of which will tell you to salt your sliced cucumbers and let them sit for about 3 hours (more is better). This salt treatment draws water out of the cucumbers and flavors them, so it's critically important.

The best way to keep your pickles crisp is by taking an extra moment to remove the blossom from the end of the cucumber. By adding this extra cut, you have a crisper pickle. Other ways to ensure a crisp pickle is by adding grape leaves to your jar. I tend to cut off both ends of the cucumber as I quickly process them.

Pickling is perfect for so much more than just cucumbers. Pickled beets, pickled berries, pickled onions, pickled squash, and pickled apricots are just a few of the fantastic pickling recipes you'll find here.

While cucumbers and peppers are the most popular produce to pickle, the preservation doesn't stop there. Vegetables that can be pickled are beets, cauliflower, onions, okra, carrots, and really any hearty vegetable. There are even popular pickled mixes such as giardiniera!

Pickling is the process of food preservation by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. Many types of fruit are pickled. Some examples include peaches, apples, crabapples, pears, plums, grapes, currants, tomatoes and olives. Vinegar may also be prepared from fruit, such as apple cider vinegar.