A vegan delicacy in which vegetables simply marinate in a boiling mixture of vinegar, sugar, salt and sometimes water, before cooling. Then simply drain the vegetables with their sweet and sour flavor, before crunching them or slipping them into another preparation. We explain to you step by step how to simply prepare these vegetable pickles.
How to prepare homemade pickles?
Step 1: preparing the vegetables
Cucumber, onion, beetroot, green beans, radishes, cauliflower, carrot, zucchini, almost all vegetables (and even fruit!) are suitable for preparing pickles. Although most of them are used raw, some will be pre-cooked before being covered with vinegar, like potatoes, which simply need to be boiled in water before using them. For cutting, you can cut the vegetables into slices (cucumber, radishes), into florets (cauliflower), into pieces (carrots), but also leave them whole as with green beans.
Step 2: the vinegar marinade
If white, cider, or rice vinegar are popular for this preparation, you can also use white or red balsamic vinegar, or wine, depending on the recipe. We simply heat it with sugar and salt, and bring to a boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can also add herbs like bay leaf.
Step 3: finalizing the vegetable pickles
We place the vegetables in a jar with possibly fresh herbs (dill, tarragon), or spices (pepper, mustard, turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, anise, cinnamon) depending on our taste, and we pour the marinade over them. boiling. Close and let cool completely before refrigerating. Ideally, it is best to marinate for two or three days for an ideal blend of flavors. Then all that remains is to bite them!
Cucumber pickles with cider vinegar
For 2 50 cl jars
700 g of firm cucumbers
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 C. teaspoon coriander seeds
1 C. teaspoon whole cumin
25 cl of cider vinegar
15 g of salt
25 g of sugar
Wash the jars carefully.
Peel and seed the cucumbers, cut them into sticks that will stand upright in the jars, leave a space of 2 cm between the cucumbers and the top of the jar.
Divide the garlic and spices between the 2 jars. Arrange the cucumbers tightly.
Bring the vinegar, salt, sugar and 25 cl of water to the boil, and pour over the cucumbers, leaving 1 cm margin at the top.
Close, let cool completely and refrigerate. Wait two or three days before tasting; the pickles will keep for a few weeks.
