Posted: May 22, 2020

Making pickles is easy. It seems intimidating, but it’s really not. You can do it!

There are two main categories of pickles: quick and fermented.

Quick pickles are made by soaking vegetables in a vinegar solution in the fridge. They will be ready in about 48 hours. You can eat them before that, but they will probably have a sharp, sour taste.

Fermented pickles are made by soaking vegetables in a salt brine for 3-4 weeks at room temperature. Special care needs to be taken to ensure food safety.

This post will focus exclusively on quick pickles.

Important safety tips (DO NOT SKIP, PLEASE)

Making quick pickles is a safe operation, as long as you follow a few rules.

1. Use the right vinegar/water ratio

To keep things easy, I use a ratio of 1 cup water to 1 cup vinegar.

Make sure that whatever vinegar you use has 5% acidity. Most vinegars sold in the United States will have 5% acidity and have the percentage listed on the label.

If your vinegar does not have 5% acidity, you’ll need to do some calculations. Just ensure that the final mixture is 2.5% acidic (5% diluted with equal parts water is 2.5%).

According to the USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning, you can use as little as 3 parts vinegar to 4 parts water. Since it’s so close to 1:1, I just use a 1:1 ratio for simplicity and safety in case of minor measurement errors.

2. Use the right type of vinegar

Most types of vinegar will work, as long as they have 5% acidity. Brown vinegars will stain your vegetables, so keep that in mind if you want to use apple cider vinegar.

Avoid using “finisher” vinegars that have extra ingredients, like balsamic vinegar.

White distilled vinegar is cheap, widely available, and generally the best option.

3. Don’t use my recipes for canning

The pickle recipes on this page are meant to be eaten fresh (probably within a week or so). If you want to can your pickles for long-term storage, you need to follow a much more stringent process. I recommend reading the USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning if you intend to can pickles.

Please take care - lots of people have literally died from improper canning methods.

My recipe

This recipe will make a jar full of delicious pickled carrots in 48 hours. They’re similar to the carrots you get at Muchas Gracias and other casual Mexican food places.

You can try eating these carrots early, but they will have an overpowering vinegar taste.

You can substitute other vegetables here. I like using sliced red onions.

Here’s the recipe:

• 5 medium carrots
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon dried garlic, or 3 cloves chopped
• 1 teaspoon black pepper or peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 quart glass mason jar, cleaned thoroughly with a tight-fitting lid

Combine the water, vinegar, salt, and spices in a pot. Place on high heat.

While the water boils, wash, peel, and chop the carrots. You can slice them into rings, or make carrot sticks. You could also just use baby carrots, although the flavor may not be as rich.

When the vinegar solution comes to a boil, add the carrots, and boil them for five minutes. This will give them a softer texture. You can skip this step if you prefer very crunchy pickles.

Use a slotted spoon or ladle to transfer the boiled carrots into the mason jar. Then, pour the boiling solution over the carrots (be careful please). You want to cover the carrots completely, while leaving at least 1/2" of space from the top of the jar.

Tap the jar on the counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles, and add more solution as needed to cover the carrots.

Put the lid on the jar, allow the pickles to cool to room temperature, and place the jar in the refrigerator. Enjoy after 48 hours.

If you want to make more pickles, just double or triple the ingredients and jars. It’s easy to make lots of these at a time.

You can substitute any spices that you want, but if you’re new to making pickles, this recipe is a great start.