Preserve Your Bounty With This All-Purpose Quick Pickling Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How long does quick pickling last? ›

Quick pickles last for 2-3 weeks when stored properly in the refrigerator. Take note: This is not a canning recipe. This is a simple refrigerator pickle. These pickles stay crisp and are meant to be stored and served chilled.

In fermentation, good bacteria turn sugars into lactic acid, which preserves the food product. In quick pickling, the cold of the fridge lets the vinegary flavors of the brine marinate with the fruits or vegetables (and added spices) while forestalling the bacteria growth.

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.

Traditional pickle making includes canning, which uses high temperatures to sterilize and create an airtight seal that further preserves the contents from spoilage. Quick pickling uses the same basic ingredients as traditional pickling but you skip the canning process and store them in your refrigerator.

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.

“Absolutely yes, you can reuse pickle brine,” says Phillip Bec of McClure's Pickles. Mark Hungarland, the co-founder of Doux South Pickles, agrees. "We have always encouraged our customers to reuse our brines," Hungarland tells Southern Living. "It is such a waste to dump the brine after the pickles are gone."

No, there are other methods for pickling, including quick pickling and refrigerator pickling. But this pickling method does call for boiling the brine. This process helps bloom the flavors of the ingredients and help speed up the pickling process when it's added to the fresh vegetables or fruit.

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!).

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 sterilize it. Mason and other glass jars are just as good here as they are in traditional canning, McClellan says.

Vinegar: Use white distilled or cider vinegars of 5% acidity. Any kind of vinegar with unknown acidity should not be used. White vinegar is usually preferred when a light color is desirable. The level of acidity in a pickled or fermented product is as important to its safety as it is to taste and texture.

How long should you leave onions to pickle? ›

Pack the onions into clean, sterilized jars. Pour over the hot vinegar mixture to fill the jars, and check there are no air pockets. Seal the jars and leave to cool. The onions will be ready to eat after about 1 month or better if kept for 2.

Also known as canning salt or preserving salt, pickling salt is simply pure granulated salt (sodium chloride), without any anti-caking agents or additives that are traditionally added to table salt.

Distilled white vinegar

Because of its clarity, it maintains colour and flavour of the produce being pickled. This makes it ideal for pale produce you don't want to discolour like fruits and white vegetables like cauliflower or onions.

Pickling vinegar is more acidic than regular vinegar. It makes pickles crispier and their shelf life longer.

You take all of your ingredients, apart from the product that is being pickled, and bring them to a boil. The heating process helps activate the flavors in the brine and marry them together.

How long do refrigerator pickles last? Homemade refrigerated pickles last at least three to four weeks in the fridge, McClellan says. Any longer and the quality will start to decline. You'll notice the brine goes from clear to murky and cloudy, and the pickles start to lose their texture.

Most quick pickles will last up to 2 months in the fridge. (NOTE: quick-pickled onions/shallots will not last as long. At most, up to 2 weeks.)

Visible mold: This is an obvious sign that your pickles have gone bad. Unusually sour taste and smell: If things smell and taste a bit more sour than usual, in an unpleasant way, this may not be a good sign. If you're not liking the taste anyway, it may be time to toss those pickles.

Canned pickles must be refrigerated once they're opened. Putting fermented pickles in the fridge slows the process to a crawl, keeping them at your preferred flavor and crispness. Quick pickles and fresh, unprocessed pickles are made and then stored at fridge temp from day 1.