Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe | Ready for Use in Under 10 Minutes (2024)

FAQs

What can I use if I don't have pickling spice? ›

I recommend using mustard seeds, black peppercorns or red pepper flakes, and at least one of the sweet spices (allspice, cinnamon, or cloves), and then as many of the other spices as you like.

The actual process of pickling takes as little as 10 minutes. Then you should allow your pickles to rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours before serving. Although for best flavor, let them brine for 24 hours before serving.

But you certainly don't have to use a store-bought pickling spice if you have the spices you need on hand. In fact, our most popular pickle recipe (Easy Refrigerator Pickles, if you're interested) simply lists the individual spices you need in its ingredient list.

Spices to use include cinnamon, allspice, cloves, mace, peppercorns, and ginger. You can bring out their flavour by toasting them briefly in a dry frying pan. In The River Cottage Preserves Handbook, Pam Corbin recommends using 15-30g of spices for 1 litre of vinegar.

There are many ways to add flavor to a dish without using spices or herbs. Here are a few ideas: Use different cooking methods: Cooking methods like roasting, grilling, or caramelizing can bring out natural flavors in foods, such as the sweetness in caramelized onions or the umami in roasted mushrooms.

Pickling spice ingredients (usually whole or in coarse pieces) can include allspice, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mustard seeds, and peppercorns. Pre-packaged pickling spice mixes are sold in most supermarkets.

For quick pickles, a basic brine is equal parts vinegar and water, but you can adjust the ratio to your preference. Any basic vinegar is game — white vinegar, apple cider, white wine, and rice vinegar all work well. You can use these vinegars alone or in combination.

Once the brine is hot and ready, pour it into your jars—leaving ½ inch of headspace between the liquid and the rim for liquid-induced expansion—and screw on the lids. The heat will soften your veg a little and speed up the pickling process. Let the jars cool to room temperature, then transfer them to the fridge.

The technique—a version of vinegar pickling that doesn't require a full canning process—produces briny, crunchy pickled vegetables in just a couple hours. Heat the brine until sugar and salt dissolve, then pour it over the vegetables and let them cool in the jar—voila, pickles.

Store the pickling spice in a tightly sealed glass jar or airtight container for up to one month in a cool, dark place (such as the pantry or spice cabinet).

How do you use ready made pickling spice? ›

A traditional British blend of spices for anyone who loves to preserve or pickle vegetables. Tie in muslin cloth and add to stews, jams and chutneys.To make spiced vinegar, add 1 tbps pickling spice (in muslin cloth if possible) to 1 pint vinegar and bring to the boil. Cool and refrigerate for 24 hrs.

CINNAMON, ALLSPICE, MUSTARD SEED, CORIANDER, BAY LEAVES, GINGER, CHILLIES, CLOVES, BLACK PEPPER, MACE, CARDAMOM, AND SULFITING AGENT.

No, there are other methods for pickling, including quick pickling and refrigerator pickling. But this pickling method does call for boiling the brine. This process helps bloom the flavors of the ingredients and help speed up the pickling process when it's added to the fresh vegetables or fruit.

The classic ratio is super easy to remember and is easily scale-able depending on how many pickles you're making. It's 100% vinegar, 50% water, 25% sugar and 12.5% kosher salt by weight. So for example, 200g vinegar, 100g water, 50g sugar and 25g kosher salt (again, you can scale this up or down!).

Shriveling happens most often in very sweet or sour pickles. Using too strong a salt, sugar or vinegar solution at the beginning of the pickling process causes shriveling. Measure ingredients carefully when preparing a cucumber pickle that requires the addition of sugar, vinegar or salt over a 3-day to 2-week time.

Their pickling spice is made with mustard, dill, bay leaf, ginger, allspice, pepper, clove, star anise, coriander, cinnamon, juniper, mace, chiles, and cardamom. Generally, though, these are some of the usual suspects you'll find in most pickling spice blends: Mustard seed. Coriander.

Pickling salt, also called canning salt or preserving salt, is a fine-grain salt with no additives. Made of pure sodium chloride, pickling salt doesn't contain the iodine and anticaking agents that are traditionally added to table salt.

Pickling spice is a blend that stands up well to the pickling process and lends complex flavor to preserved fruits and vegetables.