The Art of Preserving: A Beginner's Guide to Pickling Foods

Reduce food waste, create insane flavour and increase the diversity in your pantry.

Pickles are thousands of years old, the word likely originating from the

Dutch word "pekel" or Northern German word "pókel", which means 'salt' or 'brine', the two integral parts of the pickling process. Pickling is the process of preserving a food in an acid solution, e.g. vinegar or salt.

One part sugar, one part vinegar & one part water

Pickling using vinegar is thought to have originated in 'Ancient Mesopotamia', an ancient region in the eastern Mediterranean. Queen Cleopatra of Egypt is even said to have credited pickles in her diet to contributing to her "health and legendary beauty" (Pruitt, 2023).

The Perfect Pickle

You'll only need three ingredients

One part sugar, one part vinegar & one part water

Method

1. Get yourself a pot / saucepan.

2. Weigh up an even amount of granulated sugar (casters fine too), white wine vinegar and water.

3. Put all three ingredients into the pot, and stir.

4. Bring to the boil and pour over your prepped fruit / vegetables.

5. Store in an airtight container or sterilized jar.

You can use this recipe to pickle just about anything you like.

Flavouring

So now you have your base pickle, lets kick it up a notch. You can make really interesting flavour profiles by adding some spices to your pickle.

Pickled Carrots - cardamom seeds, Oriel salt, star anise and dried parsley.

Red Onions - West of Dingle sea salt, basil and thyme.

Beetroot - Cloves, parsley,

Pruitt, S. (2023). 'The Juicy 4,000-Year History of Pickles'. History.com [online] Available at: https://www.history.com/news/pickles-history-timeline (Accessed on: 29th January 2024).