Quick Pickles or Refrigerator Pickles – Delicious Instant Pickles

Quick pickles or refrigerated pickles – delicious instant pickles

Quick Pickles or Refrigerated Pickles – Delicious Instant Pickles – Quick pickles or refrigerator pickles are instant pickles. To quick pickle something all it takes is to soak the vegetables in a vinegar brine.

Quick pickles are made with vegetables pickled in a vinegar, water, and salt (and optionally sugar, too) solution and then stored in the refrigerator.

Letting refrigerator pickles sit longer helps their flavour develop more, so an overnight rest is ideal, but they’re also fine to eat right away!

When you make your first quick pickle, you will discover that sometimes there’s a delicious & crunchy pickled vegetable that really takes the dish to the next level.

Quick pickles are also called instant pickles or unfermented pickles because they are ready to eat almost immediately.

Similarly, they are called refrigerator pickles or fridge pickles because they require a few hours to a few days of refrigeration in the brine to mature.

To make a refrigerator pickle, simply mix your vegetables with vinegar, salt, sugar, dill, garlic and onion. Store them the refrigerator for 4-6 hours and they’ll be ready to eat.

However, the flavour of quick pickles matures more with time. You can put them in a jar with a tight lid. Shake the jar a couple of times a day for 4-5 days.

The unfermented pickles will be well pickled and ready to eat in five days to one week with a far more robust flavour.

Quick pickles can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. At room temperature, quick pickles usually last for a week.

While you can technically pickle any time of year, something about quick pickling always feels very summery to me. Especially, if you land up at the farmer’s markets and garb farm fresh vegetables.

Vinegar is the preservative and flavoring agent in most pickles. Ensure you use a vinegar that has 5% of acetic acid. What kind you use depends on the color and flavor you want to have in the pickled product.

White Vinegar – Most pickle recipes call for distilled white vinegar. This is the clear, colorless vinegar made by fermenting grains. It has a mellow aroma, tart acid flavor and does not affect the color of the light-colored vegetables or fruits.

Apple cider vinegar – Apple cider vinegar, made from fermented apple juice has a mellow, fruity flavor that blends well with spices. However, it darkens most vegetables and fruits. Cider vinegar may be substituted for white vinegar of the same acidity.

Malt Vinegar: Malt vinegar made from malted barley is another prime contender. It is often quite a dark brown so will colour the food you are pickling a shade of brown and it has a fairly bold flavour so is best used with high flavoured produce.

Avoid using aged or concentrated vinegar like balsamic or wine vinegar for pickling.

Vinegar is highly effective as a preservative is because of its pH. The acid in vinegar is acetic acid created by acetobacter, a type of acid producing bacteria.

The acidity of vinegar inhibits the growth of damaging bacteria and therefore foods stored in vinegar are able to last much longer without refrigeration.

Acidity is, therefore, a key requirement when choosing a vinegar to preserve foods.

Some types of bacteria are able to grow in slightly acidic solutions we need to ensure the vinegar we use to pickle with is acidic enough to start with.

You can use fresh or dried herbs like thyme, rosemary, dill, oregano, etc. to add flavor to your pickle. Dill pairs perfectly with fresh cucumbers, while thyme complements cherry tomatoes well.

Whole spices like peppercorns, red pepper flakes, dill seed, mustard seed and star anise are excellent additions. You can also use some ground spices like turmeric, which blends well.

Adding ginger and garlic works very well and it enhances the flavours very nicely.

In addition to traditional aromatics like ginger and garlic, you can also try using various types of fresh, bhut jolokia to add a super fiery kick. Check out the lotus root pickle recipe as an example.