How to Make Pickled Fruits and Vegetables

How to make pickled fruits and vegetables recipe, boiled or no cook method. What foods can you pickle and the best choices, then how to can after pickling foods.

Can You Pickle Vegetables Without Boiling?

Yes! You can add the same ingredients and use cool water. Stir to incorporates the flavors but the granules won’t incorporate quite as well because you’d need heat for that. The biggest difference between the two methods is that no cook pickling keeps the veggies super crispy!

You can see, feel, and taste the difference when it comes to pickling cucumbers. Buy a jar of Vlasic on the shelf and Claussen in the refrigerated section. Bite in and you will see how the latter is super crunchy while the other bends. That is because Claussen ingredients aren’t boiled beforehand.

I mean homemade dill pickles would be the first thing you would think of when you see this title right? Yes, those are amazing but that is just the beginning. I do suggest you start here because you likely love them as much as we do and you can not only snack on them as is but make things like our fried pickle and ranch dip too.

You can in fact buy a container of spices to pickle here if you wanted to. I suggest you make homemade pickle brine yourself though because then you can adjust things to your liking.

Ingredients Needed to Pickle Vegetables

• 1 lb vegetables or fruit, shown is banana peppers, sliced into bite sizes as you’d like them to be preserved
• 1 c white vinegar 5%, or apple cider vinegar
• Water, cold is best
• Sea salt is better than table smaller grains
• White sugar will bring a bit of sweetness
• Whole cloves of garlic
• 3 tsp mustard seeds
• Whole black pepper sometimes called peppercorns
• Coriander seeds
• Mason jars are best for canning, or a container with a sealed lid if you’re just going to refrigerate

If you wanted spicy pickled vegetables you should add red pepper flakes to your pickling liquid, that is your best bet. Start with 1/2 tsp. Once cooled and refrigerated overnight taste the brine and see if it is spicy enough for you. If not then next go around add another 1/4 tsp to 1/2.

I mean there isn’t anything you really can’t do but I would stick to those that are of a firmer feel if you know what I mean. Something like tomatoes or strawberries as a fruit are quite soft and won’t hold up as well as let’s say carrots would. They will be soaking in the liquid for a week in the fridge or months if canned. A few great ones though are;

Best Vegetables to Pickle

1. Pickled beets are pretty darn popular to enjoy on top of a great salad.
2. Carrots pickled are a great snack that even kids love, this is great to make spicy.
3. Green beans are easy for the pickling process as all you have to do is cut off the ends. They will stay bright green and if you don’t boil the marinade they will stay crispy crunchy.
4. Radishes sliced really soaks the juices up well.
5. You can make quick pickled cabbage that has been cut into large bite size pieces.
6. Or if you want the other color to make some pickled red cabbage some time.
7. Thinly slice red onions and serve pickled onions on your burgers, refrigerator pickles are an obvious choice.
8. And if you love heat you can try marinated jalapenos as well. You can adjust the heat with the amount of seeds left inside or taken out before adding it into the liquid. Add some sugar for somem sweetness too.

If you do have a DIY vegetable garden at home you might have something else that just grows like crazy. A great way to prevent waste is to soak in pickling spice and store them this way.

To make quick pickled vegetables you need about half an hour or so to get this done. Mix water, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir until the salt and sugar dissolves. When the water boils, pour in the vinegar and after a minute turn off the heat.

Pickled Banana Peppers Recipe

• Sterilize canning jars in advance with boiling water or hot steam. If you don’t plan on storing for a long time, you can skip this step. In this case, store in the refrigerator once jars are filled. Arrange mustard seeds, black peppercorns and coriander seeds in jars.
• Fill jars with chopped vegetables or fruit pcs. Shake the jars to make pieces more compact. Don’t fill the jars too tightly, typically just divide between 3 mason jars.
• Peel the garlic from the husk, cut it into slices and arrange in jars. Pour the brine, it will be hot, in your pot into the jars equally.
• Leave about an inch of space on top of the jar, but no more. Food inside should be completely covered with water vinegar marinade.

Cover the jars with lids and tighten with rings (sterilize beforehand if you are canning. Directions to can are above).

Leave on the table until contents in the jars cool completely. Can properly for longer storage, then keep in dark place. Or if eating within 1 week keep in fridge

How to Make Mexican Pickled Vegetables

For this pickled recipe it is all about heat and mixing a few different varieties together. You are going to want to slice jalapeno peppers, slices of carrots, red onions, and radishes. To make it less spicy you remove more or all of the seeds from the peppers. To increase you leave more in, it’s that simple.

If you love Mexican food you may have had this served in a little cup on the side of your meal. It’s like a delicacy of sorts because it takes time to make and sit so the flavors permeate together nicely. The thinner the pieces the more flavor in each bite.