Quick Pickles – Everyday Food With Sarah Carey

Pickling is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. Before the development of refrigeration, fruits, vegetables, meats, and even seafood were pickled so they could be stored and consumed for longer periods of time. Aside from the advantage of food preservation, pickled food surprisingly has amazing health benefits. It has a good supply of essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and probiotics which help control diabetes, improve digestion, protect the liver, and heal ulcers. Although canned or jarred pickles are conveniently available in any grocery store, they may contain food additives or synthetic preservatives which can harm one’s health.

With this quick pickle recipe, you can have a classic bread and butter pickle chips ready in just 2 hours. These pickles are healthy, sweet, tangy, and mildly spicy and are perfect in your favorite sandwiches, as a side dish or a gift to your family and friends. You can even use the same brine recipe for any other vegetables you want to pickle.

Ingredients:

This recipe takes about 90 minutes to make. The pickles need to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours before serving. Serves 3 ⅓cups of pickles.

• 2 English cucumbers
• 1 ½ cups of fresh dill fronds
• 1 tbsp coarse salt

Brine:
• 3 cups of white vinegar
• 1 ½ cups of white sugar
• 2 tsp coarse salt
• ½ tsp mustard seed
• ½ tsp celery seed
• ⅛ tsp ground turmeric

Instructions:

Slice the English cucumbers into ⅛-inch thick rounds.
Put the cucumber slices in a strainer with a bowl at the bottom.
Sprinkle salt on top and toss them well.
Leave the salted cucumbers on the counter for at least an hour or up to 3 hours in the fridge.
Discard the liquid from the bowl and wash the cucumber thoroughly to remove any salt.
Put the cucumbers in a jar, layering alternately with fresh dill fronds.
To make the brine, put vinegar, white sugar, salt, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and ground turmeric in a saucepan.
Boil over medium-high heat while stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the brine into the jar with the cucumbers and dill fronds making sure the vegetables are completely submerged in the brine.
Cool to room temperature before sealing the jar with a lid.
Keep the jar in the refrigerator for about 2 hours before serving.

Ideas And Tips:

If you want to lessen the sweetness of the brine, just use half of the sugar.

If you want more spice, you can add 2 to 4 chopped red chilies or 1 tsp chili flakes to the brine.

You can keep the pickles in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

You can pickle other vegetables like radishes, carrots, peppers, beans, onions, cauliflower, asparagus, beets, turnips, okra, zucchini or bitter melons.

images – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVvqR4UMqN0