Pickling - How to Keep Produce for the Long Run

At some point in time, you've probably opened your refrigerator only to realize those vegetables you only used a few slices from, or fruit you couldn't finish, have gone bad. It is not only frustrating you couldn't manage to eat all the food you worked hard to buy, but then you have to throw it away.

You are not alone. When it comes to Americans' food purchases, we tend to unrealistically assess how much food is required, and as a result - buying more food than we need or buying food we won’t actually eat.

Compared to the rest of the world, food in the United States is plentiful and less costly. Plus, many Americans have access to fruits and vegetables year-round as much more food is capable of being produced today. This has benefitted Americans in many ways but also often this contributes to not appreciating, valuing, or understanding food the way other cultures around the globe do.

Before mass food production and the invention of refrigeration, mankind relied on food preservation. This was an absolute necessity. For example, pickling. Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. Pickling uses the preservative qualities of salt combined with the preservative qualities of acid, such as acetic acid (vinegar). Acid environments inhibit bacteria. To make pickles, cucumbers are soaked in a 10-percent salt water brine for several days, then rinsed and stored in vinegar to preserve them for years.

Using vinegar for food preservation likely first originated in ancient Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago. It arose as a simple way to preserve food for long journeys and export. The first recorded use of vegetables and vinegar was pickling cucumbers. So why in the last 100 years have so many Americans discarded historical food preservation practices? Unfortunately, modern society has made it easy to do so, as it’s not seen as a necessity or something taught as a means to survive.

However, if we revisit these ancient practices, we might surprise ourselves; learn something new, save food, stimulate our consumption of healthy food, and even save food from ending up in a landfill, where it would otherwise sit decaying and generating greenhouse gases. Once you learn to preserve food by pickling, it's a skill that will remain a lifelong benefit to yourself and the planet.

Here's some food you can easily pickle - cucumbers, onions, carrots, green beans, artichokes, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, jalapeños, corn, okra, asparagus, peppers, beets, cabbage, zucchini, apples, strawberries, and even eggs!

Remember creativity can increase your options and expand your meal plans. There are plenty of recipes available online for pickling your favorite garden staples and beyond. Just make sure you follow any instructions carefully and make sure every jar is properly sealed.

So how do you pickle something and what do you need to get started? Here’s a How-To for quick pickles. Quick pickling is the process of immersing food in a spiced vinegar and water solution for immediate or short-term consumption. Quick pickles are stored in the refrigerator and eaten within a few weeks versus canned or fermented pickles which are shelf stable.

How to make a basic quick pickle

•             Start with firm, fresh vegetables that aren’t bruised or spoiled in any spots. Peel any tough skins or rinds (like watermelon) but leave softer skins intact. Avoid wax coated supermarket cucumbers because the pickling solution can’t penetrate the waxy surface, look for small pickling, English, or Persian cucumbers instead.

•             Cut your vegetables into spears, sticks, slices, or chunks, depending on what type of pickle you want to make. Cutting your fruits or veggies helps the pickling brine penetrate, but you can also pickle foods whole, like whole hot peppers, or baby cucumbers. For a quick relish, finely chop everything.

•             Fit the veggies tightly into a jar or airtight container of your choice. It’s recommended that you sterilize your container, so glass works best.

•             Make a solution of vinegar and water (white or many other types of vinegar will work but only vinegar with an acetic acid content of at least 5% is appropriate for pickling. Most supermarket vinegars are fine, but do not use homemade vinegar, which doesn’t have a reliable acidity level.)

•             Use a ratio of at least equal parts vinegar to water, or 2 to 1 vinegar to water, depending on how strong you want the vinegar flavor to be.

•             Add pickling spices, I usually add a tablespoon or 2 per cup of liquid.

•             Salt is added, about a 1/2 teaspoon per cup, and a touch of sugar is optional. Note: don’t use iodized salt, which has additives that can interfere with pickling, use sea salt or kosher salt.

•             Heat the liquid to a boil, then pour over your veggies to cover.

•             Your pickles can be eaten in as little as an hour, but they’ll definitely improve overnight.

If you’d like to research more about long-term canning and fermented foods there are many instructions and recipes online. Remember, in order to preserve your foods properly, you need to start with the proper equipment & sanitization, ripe food, have precise quantity calculations as not all foods can stay spoilage-free for an unlimited amount of time, allow yourself enough time, and have a designated place to provide proper storage.

Happy Pickling!!