You Must Freeze Your Homemade Pickles
Summer is in its final throes, which means having to deal with buckets of food – I mean savoring and cherishing. Canning and pickling can help with this, but know what superfood sucks? Stand for hours over a pot of boiling water in an already waterlogged kitchen to sanitize and close slippery glass jars. No thanks. I switched to frozen pickles many years ago and haven’t looked back since. If you have freezer space, this is a great way to have one in your arsenal.
Pickling tends to preserve the texture and flavor of fresh food, and canning at high temperatures can ruin both. Freezing pickles in brine does the same as canning, but without heating. How? Like many other wonders in the world, it all boils down to the unique chemical properties of water – in this case, its ability to expand when frozen. When the water in pickles and the brine freezes and crystallizes, it rebuilds and breaks down the fibers in pickles, softening them slightly. It is physically impossible to overdo it with this step, because once the pickles are frozen, they no longer freeze . Therefore, it is very difficult to prepare soft and overcooked pickles. Better yet, since no heat is used and the “cooking” process takes place mainly in an anaerobic environment, vegetables do not oxidize or turn gray. They are not shelf stable, but pickles in the freezer can turn out nicely crispy and colorful, which is why I prefer them over traditional canned pickles.
Now that I’ve hopefully sold them to you, here’s how to make pickles. This method works with any vegetable or fruit and is infinitely customizable – you can even make jam from the freezer if you like.
Make and cool the pickle
Use whatever pickle recipe you like for this step, just cook it first so it has enough time to cool down before continuing. Here, all the “cooking” is done by the freezer, so there is absolutely no need to pour boiling brine over the vegetables. In addition, the hot brine makes the marinades discolored and soft.
My pickle recipe changes depending on what I marinate because it is difficult, but I usually use a ratio of 1.5 parts vinegar to 1 part water (measured by volume) which I heat to a boil. and season to taste with salt and / or sugar. My taste requires 2-3 tablespoons of salt and up to a glass of sugar for 2 ½ cups of liquid. When I’m happy with the overall balance of salt, sweetness, and acidity, I add any other flavors — turmeric, coriander, mustard, and celery seeds for the bread and butter pickles; fresh dill, black pepper and garlic for garlic dill, chopped ginger for beetroot, etc. – then cover the pot and let it cool. In the meantime, cook the vegetables.
Prepare and pack vegetables
This is the most important step; To get this right, think about the water content of your future pickles.
For fibrous, less watery foods like beets, carrots, cauliflower, radishes, and more, simply cut them into thin slices and stack them in pickling containers along with the onions or garlic you use to flavor them. (Speaking of pickling vessels, can I suggest a plastic soup container ?) Green beans and asparagus are exceptions to this rule: they must be blanched for a short time so they don’t lose their color.
For cucumbers, zucchini, onions, green tomatoes, or anything else to skip, macerate them first: chop the vegetables to the desired thickness (or 1/2 “is usually a safe option) and stack them in a colander. with onions and / or garlic when using. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt over a pound of vegetables and macerate for 1 to 2 hours. Rinse off remaining salt, squeeze out excess water and pour into containers.
Freeze, thaw and eat
When the brine has cooled, pour the wrapped vegetables over, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) headspace at the top. Cover and freeze until solid. They are stored in the freezer for a year or more.
Defrost pickles in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving. Once thawed, they are stored in the refrigerator almost forever, although after 1 to 2 months their crispness will decrease. I confess: I once found an 18-month-old can of homemade garlic dill in the back of the fridge and ate it anyway. They were powerful and I am still alive. In fact, they could extend my life.