The April challenge in the 2017 Food in Jars Mastery Challenge was for quick pickles. To be honest, I had a bit of trouble getting interested in this one.
I like pickles just as much as the next gal, but have several kinds of pickles and pickled peppers already in my refrigerator and pantry. Also, I was wanting to do something different, something ‘challenging,’ something I hadn’t done before.
Quick Pickled Vegetables
A couple of summers ago, I ran across this recipe for Taco Pickles (recipe is at the bottom of the page at that link.) Â I thought they sounded good and made them and we ate them with shredded pork tacos and some other things.
I thought about making them again for the April challenge, but in the spirit of trying something different, I instead used this recipe for Quick Pickled Vegetables. Using it as a guide, I used 4 cups of diced vegetables, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 cup white vinegar, 2 cups of water, 3 teaspoons sugar and 3 teaspoons salt.
In most things that my husband and I pickle, we use a combination of apple cider vinegar and white vinegar because we like the flavor combination. Â Using all apple cider vinegar makes it too sweet, while all white vinegar too bitter. Just our opinion and preference!
My Medley of Pickled Vegetables
For the vegetables, I used carrots, radishes, sweet peppers, jalapenos, red onion, and garlic cloves. The garlic isn’t pictured because I almost forgot it. It was added after photos were taken.
Next time, I think I will add some cucumber too. The problem is the more vegetable types you add, the harder it is to make a small enough amount to fit in one jar. That was my goal here.
When I had all of the vegetables ready to go, I put them in the jar (this is about a quart or so, I believe it’s a 1.3-liter jar. Â It was the second one I had to sterilize, because the first one I had out to use was smaller and was not large enough.)
Once this larger jar was ready, everything I had diced fit into it except about 10 pieces of carrots. Â My Brittany spaniel Bill was happy to have an afternoon snack. The dogs don’t usually get their carrot snacks cut all fancy. Â Once the vegetables were in the jar, I poured the warm brine mixture over them to within an inch or so of the top.
This happened on Saturday and then, these beauties sat in the fridge for a day before we tried them. Â We had a bit of a smoked meat extravaganza on Sunday to get some food ready to go for the week. My husband made a pork shoulder, chicken, and brats. I am happy to report that these quick pickles were awesome with all of these things. We bought ourselves a new Masterbuilt Electric Smoker for Christmas and we love it! It is now Tuesday and the jar is almost half gone.
Pickled Ginger
In my quick pickles research, I also found a recipe for pickled ginger. Â I decided to give this a try with a chunk of ginger I had in my refrigerator.
I peeled the ginger root and then sliced it as thinly as I could without cutting off my finger. Then, I put it in a bowl and sprinkled about 1/2 teaspoon sea salt on it. It rested there for about an hour.
Once it was done relaxing in the salt, I put it into a 4-ounce (sterilized) jelly jar. I topped it off with a liquid mixture of 1/2 cup of hot rice vinegar and 1/8 cup sugar (dissolved.) Then, I put it in the fridge.
We ended up not being fans of the ginger. My husband likes it at good restaurants, so I’m not sure where I went wrong.
Do you like quick-pickled vegetables? What is your favorite combination? Tell us about it in the comments!
they are lovely. the colors look so tempting. Very nice job.