quick pickles easy

Quick Pickles – An alternative way to enjoy your favourite fruit and veg

Infuse some of your favourite fresh veggies and/or fruits with a healthy dose of salt, sugar, spices, water and vinegar to produce quick, delicious, tangy pickles you could store away and use at your convenience!

Not to be confused with fermented pickles, which use anaerobic (non-oxygen-requiring) fermentation in brine and need to be stored away for at least 2 weeks. Quick pickling skips the fermentation process by adding vinegar to your mixture to recreate the acidic flavour. This is then infused into your chosen pickles by boiling through for about 5-10 minutes, depending on the ingredients, and refrigerating until fully cooled.

Although this method does not contain many of the health benefits associated with fermented pickles, it’s still a healthy and delicious way to flavour and personalise your favourite fruit and veg! In addition, there are many proven health benefits of consuming vinegar, which are passed on into your pickles, such as:

  • helping with weight loss
  • lowering blood sugar levels and fighting diabetes
  • lowering cholesterol and risk of heart disease

Recipes

Quick pickling uses a basic blend of salt, sugar and spices to flavour the water and vinegar brine. These spices contain cloves, allspice, ground ginger, mixed peppercorns, bay leaf, cinnamon, mustard and coriander seeds, which can often be bought pre-packed at your local supermarket. Add some of your favourite ingredients on top of that to personalise it further. Here’s a few of my recipes:

Pickled Mushrooms

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Ingredients:

quick mushroom pickles

  • About 500g mixed mushrooms (depending on your jar size), I used Button and Shitake (left them whole, but if using larger varieties cut them to about the size of a mouthful)
  • 1 White Onion
  • 1 Red Onion
  • Handful of Dill
  • About 5 Garlic Cloves
  • 2 Tablespoons Salt
  • Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Packet Pickling Spice (about 3 tablespoons)
  • Tablespoon Mixed Peppercorns
  • 2 Tablespoons Mixed Herbs
  • 1 Tablespoon Caraway Seeds
  • About 4 Bay Leaves
  • 350ml White Wine (Or Cider) Vinegar
  • 350ml Water

Method:

1. Combine the water, vinegar, spices and bring to a boil.

pickle mixture

2. Wash your mushrooms.

mixed mushrooms

3. Peel and crush your garlic.

crushed garlic

4. Chuck the mushrooms and garlic into the mixture, wait for the mixture to come back to boil and reduce to simmer for about 10 minutes.

quick mushroom pickles

5. Whilst your mixture is simmering, peel and slice your onions and wash your dill.

onion dill

6. Pack half of these into your pickling jar.

7. Once your mixture is done simmering and your mushrooms feel soft, take off the boil and wait a minute or two for it to slightly cool down (so your glass jar doesn’t break from the heat stress).

8. Pour over the onions, making sure to get the mushrooms out. When halfway full pack in the remaining onions and dill and pour in the rest of the mixture. Making sure all your mushrooms and spices have made their way into your pickling jar. If your jar cannot fit all your mushrooms (like mine) split it into 2. Seal with a tight lid. Any excess liquid can be disregarded or used to infuse some extra onions or other veg in a different jar (as seen at the bottom of this page).

pickled mushrooms

9. Refrigerate until cooled (about a day). Then if ,like me, you lack fridge space, take out and leave at room temperature, to be consumed at your own pace. The further you leave them the more infused with the pickle flavour they will get.

 

Pickled Gherkins

pickled gherkins

Ingredients:

quick gherkin pickles

  • The same Spice, Salt, Sugar, Water and Vinegar Mix.
  • A good bunch of small Pickling Cucumbers (try to fill out your pickling jar)
  • Couple Red Onions
  • 1 White Onion
  • 1-2 Handfuls of Dill

Method:

1. Combine your spices, water, vinegar and bring to a boil.

pickle mixture

2. Wash your cucumbers and scrape off any prickles.

pickling cucumbers

3. Peel and crush your garlic.

4. Throw them into the boiling mixture and simmer about 5 minutes (you want to make sure your cucumbers soften and infuse with the flavour but don’t leak out their water content).

pickled gherkins

5. Peel and slice your onions, wash your dill and add about half of them to the pickling jar.

onion dill

6. Once your cucumbers are done simmering – take off the boil. Wait a few minutes to cool.

7. Take out your cucumbers and place them into the jar – maximising the space.

8. Cover with the rest of the onions and dill (can even add some capers) and pour over the pickling mixture. Make sure to scoop out any leftover spices. Seal with a tight lid.

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9. Refrigerate until cooled. Then can be taken out of the fridge and left at room temperature, to be consumed at your own pace. The longer you leave them the more infused with the flavour they will become.

Pickled Onions (using leftover pickling mixture)

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Ingredients:

onion garlic

  • 250g Pickling Onions (or small round Shallots)
  • 2 White Onions
  • 2 Red Onions
  • Any leftover Pickling Liquid from the previous recipes
  • Sarson’s Pickling Vinegar

Method:

1. Peel your onions and garlic.

garlic onions

2. Slice the white and red onions and crush your garlic.

3. Add to your pickling jar.

4. Pour over any excess pickling liquid left from the previous recipes.

5. Top off with some of Sarson’s pickling vinegar to completely submerge your onions. Seal with a tight lid.

sarons pickling vinegar

6. Leave out to pickle at room temperature for at least a week. I like to add these to salads, wraps or sandwiches for a delicious tangy crunch.

 

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And there you have yourself some quick, easy pickles ready to consume within days! I like to leave mine in for at least 3 days, just so they really have time to absorb the spicy, herby flavours of the pickle brine. But don’t be afraid to try them day by day, tasting the changes as well as finding out your preferred pickle duration!