There is a misconception that pickling something has to take all day. This must come from the images of grandmothers sitting in the kitchen with bushel after bushel of cucumbers making enough pickles to last all winter. I know that is what I think of, well not grandma, but my mother. She would spend days putting the garden bounty to good use. Let’s all wipe that image from our heads and get ready to learn how to make pickles in under an hour.
The pickles, or quick pickles as they are frequently called, won’t last you the winter but they will go a good couple of weeks in the fridge. That is assuming you don’t eat them well before a few weeks are up. You can use the same process to can pickles that will last through the winter. If that is your goal you can make enough for a family of 4 in an afternoon. You can learn more about that process and get some recipes from this article I wrote for Wayfair.
Today we are on quick pickles. The sky is the limit with this method. You can pickle darn near anything. To prove the point I had some pickled blueberries on a sandwich the other day. They were delicious and likely made in the exact same way as these radishes. I am looking into this so we can have them on a salad in the near future. I will be sure to get back to you when I have them finished.
My radishes were inspired by The Picnic Cookbook which was the first cookbook for the cookbook club. They listed a variety of vegetables you could do such as beets, green beans, fennel and the traditional cukes. I took a little spin on this because radishes were on sale, they sounded good and apple cider vinegar was all that I had on hand. I was very happy how they turned out and couldn’t stop eating them once I opened the jar. They were a perfect topping for a pork tenderloin sandwich the other night.
The basic process is to prep a fruit or vegetable of your choice, make a brine, pour brine over said fruit or vegetable and refrigerate. Since you aren’t trying to store these at room temperature you don’t have to be as concerned with the acid levels and the safety of the food. This allows you wing the recipes a little more than you can with traditional canning. Big win for you. You can experiment with vinegars, seasonings and ratios to water until you find your perfect mixture.
Before this did you think all pickling was hard or took all day?
- 3/4 lb radishes greens removed
- 4 fennel fronds
- 5 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tablespoons wildflower honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- rinse radishes and slice in 1/4 inch rounds
- Pack radishes, fennel frond and garlic into a half-pint canning jar.
- Put fennel seeds, apple cider vinegar, water, honey and salt in a sauce pan and heat to a rolling boil. Stir to dissolve honey and salt.
- Remove brine from heat and pour over radishes. Make sure the radishes are covered by the brine
- Allow the brine and radishes to come to room temperature, 70°F. This should happen within 2 hours. Cover jar and place in fridge.
- Let cool completely. For the best pickles leave them for at least a day before eating. Will keep in the fridge for about a month, or until you eat them all. Whichever comes first.
Lisa-Marie says
Thank you for sharing this pickling recipe. Can I use this recipe for other vegetables and fruits?
Lisa-Marie recently posted…United States Occupation of Haiti: 100 Years Later
You can certainly do it for any vegetables. I feel pretty confident you could do it with fruits, but I haven’t tried it so I don’t know if the flavor of this particular brine would be good for fruit. If I try a fruit recipe I will be sure to post again about my results. Thanks for swinging by the blog.