This Fall, join us each week as we go Back to Basics with Whitney and level-set our kitchen skills. Each week we will feature a short video designed to tackle basic, but important concepts for home cooks. First up, we tackle how to pickle your favorite veggies.
Pickles are a great way to enjoy raw vegetables. We love the crunch of raw veggies, but sometimes we want a little more flavor - and pickling is a great solution.
What is pickling?
According to Wikipedia, “Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture, taste and flavor.”
While we typically think of pickling cucumbers, you can pickle many other vegetables such as carrots, red onion, bell peppers, cauliflower and more. Pickled veggies make a great healthy snack or colorful and tasty addition to charcuterie boards.
Ready to give it a try? Here are the ingredients you will need.
Ingredients:
- Fresh, raw vegetables to fill 2 quart-size jars (beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, cucumbers, okra, green beans, asparagus, red onion, zucchini, summer squash, cauliflower florets, bell peppers)
- Half an onion, sliced, optional
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 6-10 cloves garlic, sliced
- Fresh herbs, optional
- 2 cups vinegar (any combination of white, red wine, rice wine, or apple cider vinegar)
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 4-6 tbsp sugar
Directions:
- Prep veggies by washing them well, then cut into roughly bite-size pieces. Place into jars along with the onion, if using. Divide the garlic and whole spices between the jars. Leave about an inch at the top of each jar.
- Bring the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan.
- Using a funnel, carefully pour the hot liquid into the jars, making sure to submerge all the veggies, pressing down on them with the end of a wooden spoon. Leave about a half inch of space between the top of the liquid and the lid.
- Cover and let sit on the counter to cool, then place in the fridge. Pickled vegetables will be ready to eat after 6-8 hours, but will be even tastier after a few days.
- Store in the fridge for up to 3 months - but we don’t think they will last that long.
Note: Not sure which vinegar to use? Distilled white vinegar and white wine vinegar are most popular because they won't affect the color of most vegetables (red onions, however, will turn bright pink when exposed to white vinegar.)
