Pickling is one of our favourite ways to preserve and add flavour to the harvest that comes of out of the garden. For beginners and those just getting started, we’ve included a simple pickling recipe that will work for a variety of vegetables including cucumbers, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, chilli peppers, and more. At its core, pickling is the process of preserving vegetables in a salty and acidic liquid. This inhibits the bacteria that can cause your plants to spoil by lowering the pH through the addition of lactic acid.

Base:
-2 cups vinegar
-6 tsp salt
-4 cups water

Flavouring/Spices:
Add into your base additional flavours and spices such as garlic, dill, celery seed, coriander seed, mustard seed, black peppercorns or whatever else fits your fancy. We recommend 1/2 or 1 tsp of flavouring of each ingredient, though feel free to experiment and add more or less according to your taste

Steps:
1. Mix your vinegar, water, and flavouring ingredients together in a large pot and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer for a few minutes, then allow the liquid (brine) to cool slightly.
3. Arrange your vegetable ingredients tightly in a canning jar, cutting them to size if they are too large to fit
4. Pour your brine into the jars, filling them to within 1/2 to 1″ of the top of the jar.
5. Agitate the jar to remove any air bubbles and store on the counter for a few weeks or in the fridge for up to a few months or until they are consumed.

This recipe is easy to scale up if you are making a larger batch.

Cover Image by Stacy Spensley, used under its Creative Commons license.

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