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Basic pickling brine

A basic pickling brine is one of those useful things to have in your head rather than having to look it up every time. Once you know the rough balance of vinegar, water, sugar and salt, you can pickle all sorts of vegetables and then change the personality of the jar with garlic, mustard seeds, peppercorns, bay leaves, coriander seeds, chilli or fresh herbs. The trick is that the brine does not taste exactly the same on day one as it will a couple of weeks later.

I learnt that with a jar of pickled onions. After two weeks the vinegar was so sharp that I genuinely thought the batch had failed. Another two weeks in the fridge and the whole process had settled down. The onions were good, the vinegar no longer felt aggressive, and the pickle tasted properly balanced.

I noticed something similar with a mixed vegetable pickle. So while you do not want a brine that is wildly acidic for no reason, it can be stronger than you might think when you first taste it. Time changes the balance. The vegetables take on the vinegar and seasoning, the brine loses some of that raw sharpness, and the whole jar starts tasting more joined-up.

That is particularly useful to remember with onions and firmer vegetables, which often need longer than quick cucumber or radish pickles. A jar that tastes too sharp after a few days is not necessarily a disaster. Sometimes it simply needs more time. For the refrigerator pickles this is the starting point.

Easy to remember the number 1!

Basic brine

• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp sugar or honey
• 1 tsp salt

Optional flavourings

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 6 to 10 black peppercorns
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp coriander seeds

And for some spice:

• Chilli flakes, optional
• Fresh dill, optional

Method
Put the vinegar, water, sugar and salt into a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Add any spices either to the saucepan or directly to the jars. Pour the warm brine over the prepared vegetables until completely covered. Let the jars cool for about 20 to 30 minutes, close the lids and refrigerate. For a quick pickle, start tasting after 2 to 3 days. For onions and firmer vegetables, give them longer before deciding whether the flavour is right.

A useful note
Vegetables do not all take up the same amount of space in a jar. Cauliflower and broccoli, for example, leave lots of gaps and can swallow far more brine than expected. It is usually better to make too much and throw a little away than to discover halfway through the last jar that you need another tiny batch for pickling brine. And one more thing: pickling adds flavour much faster than it softens vegetables. If you are using something firm such as carrots or cauliflower, blanch the veg first until they are close to the texture you actually want to eat.

What to stock in your pickling pantry:
Vinegars

• White vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• White grape vinegar, for a milder flavour

Sweeteners

• White sugar
• Brown sugar
• Honey

Salt and basic seasoning

• Fine salt
• Black peppercorns
• Mustard seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Bay leaves
• Garlic
• Chilli flakes

Useful extras

• Turmeric
• Cumin seeds
• Fresh dill when you can get it
• Fresh chillies
• Lemon juice

And the ‘hardware’:

• Clean glass jars with good lids
• A saucepan for the brine
• A funnel
• Tongs
• Measuring cups and spoons

Basic quantities to keep in your pantry
Keep these in your pantry to avoid rushing off to the supermarket when the pickling bug hits!:

• White vinegar: 2 to 5 litres
• Apple cider vinegar: 500ml
• White grape vinegar: 750 ml to 1 litre
• White sugar: 1 kg
• Brown sugar: 1 kg
• Honey: 500 g
• Fine salt: 500 g
• Black peppercorns: 100 g
• Mustard seeds: 100 g
• Coriander seeds: 100 g
• Bay leaves: 1 small packet or jar
• Garlic: 2 to 3 bulbs
• Chilli flakes: 50 to 100 g
• Turmeric: 50 to 100 g
• Cumin seeds: 50 to 100 g
• Fresh chillies: buy as needed
• Fresh dill: buy as needed
• Lemons: 3 to 4 on hand