Vinegar Pickling
There is a quicker option for pickling. If you don’t want to wait for fermentation, or want something slightly more shelf stable, you can use a vinegar solution and can the pickles. Vinegar pickled foods lose much of their nutritional value over time. Nonetheless, they stay quite delicious for quite a while.
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.
But for maximum preservation power, you'll want to salt the vegetables (to add crispiness and flavour), then drain them, then boil them in a vinegar solution. Package the vegetables and liquid into jars, cover them in the remaining hot vinegar solution and can them.
Either way, the vinegar’s acetic acid will increase the the vegetables’ acidity and kill off any existing microorganisms, which will help prevent prevent short-term spoilage.
INGREDIENTS:
Basic Brine Recipe
1 litre water
1 liter vinegar
35g salt
Spices:
6-9 cloves garlic, peeled
2 large heads of dill
Spices to taste: black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, mustard seeds, etc.
Enough pickling cucumbers to fill 2x 2 litre jars.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix the brine solution and bring to a boil in a large pot.
Place the tannin-containing leaves, a few cloves of garlic, the heads of dill, and ⅓ of the spices into the bottom of your jars
Pack half of the cucumbers tightly on top of the spices. (The longest ones work best at the bottom to hold the veg down.
Repeat a layer of leaves, garlic, and spices. Add another tightly packed layer of cucumbers and top them off with more garlic and spices.
Pour the brine over the pickles, leaving 1-2 inches of headspace. Seal the jars.
Process in a water canning bath for 20 minutes.
