Save those fresh veggie leftovers and make a delicious refrigerator pickle.
Unlike most of my preserves which are intended to be stored for up to 2 years, these refrigerator pickles are super-easy to make on a whim and perfect for summer.
Crisp, tasty refrigerator pickles make for a perfect summer side with cold or BBQ meats, or to accompany a cheese platter.
I don’t know about you but when preparing a dinner meal or salad I always have a handful of perfectly fine veggie scraps left over. It may be half an onion, off-cuts of capsicum, a handful of green beans, or the end of a stick of celery. Returning leftovers to the fridge with the hopeful notion I’ll be using them in tomorrow’s dinner meal doesn’t always work out well. Before I know it, I have a little collection of odds and ends curling up at the back of the fridge.
So, to avoid waste and to gain extra ooomph in my fridge, refrigerator pickles are a perfect ‘pickle on the go’. By this, I just keep adding to the jar as I please. You need to leave the veggies pickling for 24 hours before eating so they get a nice tasty soaking of brine, then it’s good to serve up again. The brine can be reused for a month or so.
Use fresh veggies, with the exception of green beans. I find that blanching them for 60 seconds in boiling water (then plunging into icy water, draining and patting dry) makes for a tasty inclusion.
Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients
- fresh vegetables of your choosing e.g. onion, carrot, cauliflower, celery, beans, beetroot (as many as you have or enough to fill your jar)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp honey (or other sugar)
- 1 tsp mixed pickling spices (eg: peppercorns, cloves, dried chilli)
- pinch of celery seeds (optional)
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
Method
- Cut the vegetables into pieces (whatever size you would like your pickles to be) and place the vegetables into a sterilised jar.
- Prepare the pickling liquid by placing the water, cider vinegar, honey, peppercorns and celery seeds, if using, and salt in a pot. Bring to the boil then simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the hot liquid over the vegetables.
- Stab a butter knife into the jar a couple of times to release any air bubbles that may be lurking at the bottom.
- Seal with a lid. When cool, store in the fridge. Wait 24 hours before eating. The pickles will keep in the fridge for up to a month.
