Making pickles at home is much easier than you would think.
Pickled cucumbers go along well with a beer, while pickled cabbage (a.k.a sauerkraut) is a must companion for a sausage. My wife loves pickled lemon slices, though I’m not a fan. While you can pickle almost any vegetable you want, carrots, bell peppers, and cauliflowers are common choices.
Making pickled vegetables at home is relatively easy – but it does require some patience. The equipment you need is quite simple – I use an airtight jar from Ikea and these glass weights.
Basically, it’s a spoiled vegetable but in a very specific way. You provide an environment where a certain type of bacteria flourishes and prevent other microbes, mainly mold, from interfering. If you ever made beer, this should sound familiar – while in beer the yeast is what is doing the work.
To prevent other microbes from interfering and causing the vegetables to go bad, the vegetables need to be fully submerged in water with salt – that is what the weights are for.
Before using the jar and the weights you should clean them thoroughly. I also sterilize them in an oven set to 100°c (212°F) and let them cool before using them, but that may be a bit excessive.
The fermentation process lasts between one week to two, depending on the temperature in the room and how sour you like your pickles. In the first few days of fermentation, the vegetables release quite an amount of bubbles so leave enough room in the container or open it once or twice a day to release the pressure. Avoiding doing so can cause so much pressure that liquid will spill even from an airtight container (I speak from experience).
Below are recipes and amounts for cucumbers, and cabbage. Feel free to pickle other vegetables as well using the cucumber recipe or a derivative of it.
Equipment
- airtight jar
- glass weight
Ingredients
- 700 gr small cucumbers [1.5 lbs]
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- dill
- kosher salt
- water
Instructions
- Clean the jar and weight thoroughly – I recommend sterilizing them in the oven just to be safe – remember to let them cool afterwards.
- Place everything in the jar, putting the largest cucumbers horizontally at the top to prevent others from surfacing the water. Leave enough space for air at the top.
- Add water and salt – a tsp of salt for every glass of water. Use clean water preferably filtered or mineral.
- Wait two weeks, opening occasionally to prevent pressure build up.
Equipment
- airtight jar
- glass weight
Ingredients
- 1 kg white cabbage [2lbs]
- 10 gr salt [0.35 oz]
Instructions
- Clean the cabbage and cut it to very thin slices.
- Place the cabbage in a bowl and add the salt to it.
- Mix and wait around 10 minutes.
- Squeeze the cabbage in the bowl – it will exude a lot of water. Don't let the water spill – you will need them.
- After squeezing the cabbage thoroughly – exuding as much water as possible – move the cabbage to the jar.
- Spill the water on top of the cabbage. If the water do not cover the cabbage – add more.
- Place a weight to prevent the cabbage from surfacing.
- Wait between 1 to 2 weeks, depending on room temperature.
