Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe | Ready for Use in Under 10 Minutes (2024)

FAQs

What can I use if I don't have pickling spice? ›

I recommend using mustard seeds, black peppercorns or red pepper flakes, and at least one of the sweet spices (allspice, cinnamon, or cloves), and then as many of the other spices as you like.

Spices to use include cinnamon, allspice, cloves, mace, peppercorns, and ginger. You can bring out their flavour by toasting them briefly in a dry frying pan. In The River Cottage Preserves Handbook, Pam Corbin recommends using 15-30g of spices for 1 litre of vinegar.

The actual process of pickling takes as little as 10 minutes. Then you should allow your pickles to rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours before serving. Although for best flavor, let them brine for 24 hours before serving.

Choose which brine you want to make and bring the brine ingredients and pickling spice blend to a boil. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour seasoned brine into jars to cover veggies. Let them cool to room temperature then seal and refrigerate.

Pickling spice ingredients (usually whole or in coarse pieces) can include allspice, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mustard seeds, and peppercorns. Pre-packaged pickling spice mixes are sold in most supermarkets.

CINNAMON, ALLSPICE, MUSTARD SEED, CORIANDER, BAY LEAVES, GINGER, CHILLIES, CLOVES, BLACK PEPPER, MACE, CARDAMOM, AND SULFITING AGENT.

Use this BA-endorsed formula as a brine base for pretty much everything: Bring 1 cup distilled white vinegar, 2 Tbsp. kosher salt, 2 tsp. sugar, up to 2 Tbsp. spices (e.g., peppercorns, coriander seeds, and/or mustard seeds), and 2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan.

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!).

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.

Quick pickling is simply the act of storing fresh produce in a brine of vinegar, salt, water, and sometimes sugar, in the refrigerator. These pickles are not canned and are ready to eat mere hours after making, though I usually wait at least a day or two.

How do you speed up pickling? ›

Then there is the quick-pickle — the kind of pickle that's ready in less than 24 hours, and sometimes in only minutes. One way to speed up the process is to eliminate the water component in the brine.

Basic Pickle Brine Ingredients

This master pickle brine calls for just four ingredients: white vinegar, sugar, salt, and water. The white vinegar provides a mild acidity that doesn't impart too much extra flavor on the fruit or vegetable you choose to pickle.

Sugar in pickling is used to balance the tartness of the vinegar. Although the sugar can be eliminated from pickle recipes, the pickles are likely to be too sour. Note: Under no circ*mstances should the amount of vinegar be decreased or diluted to compensate for less sugar.

The Process

Vinegar-based pickling is a much faster process than fermentation pickling. In its quickest form, you'll just boil a vinegar solution, pour it over the the object of your pickling desire, let it all cool and stash it in the fridge.

The key is knowing that first off, boiling your brine (vinegar mixture) will help all the flavors meld better, and that if you add in your pickling subject while the brine is hot, your pickle will be briefly cooked, and you risk losing some of the crunch.

Their pickling spice is made with mustard, dill, bay leaf, ginger, allspice, pepper, clove, star anise, coriander, cinnamon, juniper, mace, chiles, and cardamom. Generally, though, these are some of the usual suspects you'll find in most pickling spice blends: Mustard seed. Coriander.

What's In Pickling Spice? For this top-rated pickling spice recipe, you'll need: whole mustard seeds, whole allspice berries, whole coriander seeds, red pepper flakes, ground ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves.

Pickling salt, also called canning salt or preserving salt, is a fine-grain salt with no additives. Made of pure sodium chloride, pickling salt doesn't contain the iodine and anticaking agents that are traditionally added to table salt.

There are many ways to add flavor to a dish without using spices or herbs. Here are a few ideas: Use different cooking methods: Cooking methods like roasting, grilling, or caramelizing can bring out natural flavors in foods, such as the sweetness in caramelized onions or the umami in roasted mushrooms.