Pickling is a great way to preserve vegetables and enhance their nutritional value. Pickling vegetables yourself is easier than you might think.
Gather Your Supplies
Decide what kind of vegetable you want to pickle. You can pickle any vegetable you want, but popular choices include cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, peppers, and zucchini. When you’re ready to get started, you will need clean glass jars and a few other simple ingredients. Use water, vinegar, and pickling salt to make the brine. Pickling salt helps retain the clearness of the brine because unlike regular salt it is not made with iodine and anticaking agents.
Make Your Brine
Make a brine by dissolving your pickling salt in a mixture of water and vinegar. The brine is what allows the vegetable you are pickling to ferment. During this process, you are helping lactic acid bacteria grow so bad bacteria can’t grow. This not only helps with the flavor of your pickled vegetables but gives them a probiotic effect to restore balance in your gut and support digestive health. Before putting your vegetables in jars and adding the brine, you will need to blanch your vegetables. Wash, peel, and chop your vegetables and blanch them in boiling water. Let them completely cool before putting them in jars. Once you add the cooled vegetables and brine to your jar and let it cool. When you seal the jar shut, make sure it is airtight. Place it in your refrigerator for about 2 weeks before enjoying your pickled vegetables.
Enjoy Your Pickled Vegetables
Once you have your pickled vegetables, you can use them in just about anything. Pickled vegetables tend to add a delicious spice, color, and crunch factor to your food. Try adding pickled jalapeños to your pizza, garnish your pasta salad with pickled cucumbers, or make a spicy vegetable omelet for breakfast.
Once you realize how easy it is to pickle your vegetables, you won’t want to stop.
