Making Your Very Own Pickled Vegetables at Home:

So your backyard garden was a little over-ambitious this year, and after the harvest, you're finding it difficult to eat or give away the delicious vegetables you produced before they expire. Storage is often at a premium in most of today's households, so freezing your vegetables (unless you have a dedicated freezer) is not always an option. Many backyard gardeners realize that pickling can be an excellent way to preserve those precious veggies that were diligently watered from hose reels and fed with nutrients from compost piles all season long. Pickled vegetables are great additions as sides or as snacking items when visitors drop by. How excellent would it be to offer them to guests, and be able to say you produced them as well?

A few basic kitchen items are needed before beginning your first foray into pickling. A deep bowl is needed for mixing and seasoning the fruits and vegetables, a strainer of some sort, pans for laying out your bounty, muslin for wrapping with some recipes, and finally jars for storing your finished product. The best quality vinegar is necessary to delicious tasting pickled vegetables and fruit. Brown or white distilled vinegar works best, as wine or cider vinegars most probably will lose their inherent taste post-pickling. An essential step in the pickling process is the choosing of the vegetables or fruits to treat. Youngish vegetables should be chosen as well as fruits that have recently ripened. When making pickled apples or other fruits, you can proceed straight to the pickling, but pickling cucumbers and other vegetables requires a soaking in salt before proceeding. Allow your veggies to soak in a salty solution, four ounces of coarse salt (pickling salt works well) to every two pints, for 24 hours and then drain. Rinse the excess salt from the vegetables and lay them out on the pans to dry.

Cold pickling is the easiest as you now simply need to put the vegetables or fruits into the storing jars, making sure to drain off the excess water, and fill the jars with the vinegar, leaving an inch at the top for expansion. Making sweet or dill pickles from cucumbers will require a few extra steps to secure the dill or sweet taste, but other vegetables will be ready to store simply after the soaking. Maturing your vegetables might take a little patience, but after two months, they will be ready to enjoy with your favorite meals or for healthy snacking.