Pickling vegetables is a fantastic way to reduce food waste! Starting to see those carrots get a bit floppy in the bottom of your fridge? Pickle them! Seeing that capsicum start to wilt? Pickle it! I guarantee that once you start having pickled vegetables in the fridge, you’re not going to just wait for them to wilt before you turn them to pickle. You’ll be buying food specifically for pickling like me! See my favourite combo’s below and get to it!
Pickled Vegetables
Pickling vegetables is a fantastic way to reduce food waste while creating flavoursome toppings to your meals. This is the base recipe I use for pickling vegetables. Feel free to mix up any combinations you think will be delicious. My favourites are capsicum and garlic, cucumber and dill and red onion with mustard seeds and dill.
Equipment
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Pickling Jar (one that has a good seel preferably)
- Kitchen Scales
Ingredients
- water See method for quantity
- vinegar I use apple cider vinegar. See method for quantity
- raw sugar See method for quantity
- salt See method for quantity
- vegetables of choice
- herbs and spices of choice, optional
Instructions
- Fill your chosen pickling jar with sliced vegetables and herbs/spices and then press down firmly.
- Place your jar onto kitchen scales and tear the weight so it is at 0g.
- Fill your jar with 50% water and 50% vinegar, taking note of the weight on the scales.
- Calculate 10% of the weight of your brine in g. This is the amount of sugar you now need to add to the jar.
- Now calculate 2% of the weight of your brine (before you added the sugar), this is the amount of salt you now need to add to the jar.
- Seel the jar and give it a shake so that the sugar dissolves (it is ok if it does not fully dissolve, it will while it pickles).
- Take off the lid and push down all of the vegetable slices so that they are submerged in the brine.
- Place in the fridge and enjoy after 24 – 48 hours depending on the vegetables used. The longer it is in the fridge before use the better.
Notes
Don’t be discouraged by having to calculate the percentages of the brine! It is easier than you think!
For example: I have filled my jar with vegetables and teared the weight on my scales so they are at 0g. I now pour in water until the jar is half full and then fill the rest with vinegar. The weight on my scales is now 300g. I take 10% of 300g which is 30g of sugar and then I calculate 2% of 300g which is 6g of salt.
Always feel free to contact me if you need further explanation!