10 Essential Tools for Quick Pickling Vegetables

Of course, you also need the stuff to go in the jars, namely your vinegar, salt, water, and veggies, along with any spices, aromatics, or other flavorings you might want to include. These can vary widely among recipes, and we'll go over everything you need to pickle like a pro.There are as many varieties of pickles as there are stars in the sky, so don't be afraid to experiment and get creative! For pickle inspiration, check out Bread and Butter Zucchini Pickles or Anya Von Bremzen's Quick Cucumber Pickles.

Now, let's talk about the steps—rinsing and chopping vegetables, creating the brine, and combining everything to create simple and delicious pickles.

You can quick pickle a host of vegetables, including carrots, radishes, jalapeño peppers, beets, cucumbers, green beans, or cauliflower. Most any vegetable, besides leafy greens, are fair game here. You can even pickle fruit!

First things first: Give your chosen vegetables a quick rinse in cool or room temperature water, and pat dry with a towel. For root veggies or anything that tends to collect dirt, a once-over with a vegetable brush or clean paper towelwill keep unwanted bits out of your pickles. It's also a good idea to give the lidded jar you're planning to use a quick wash, too. Here's where a bottle brush will come in handy for scrubbing out the insides of tall glass containers.

Next, prepare your veggies for chopping. Snip or cut the ends and roots off green beans or radishes using kitchen shears or a chef's knife.For green beans and pea pods, you can simply snap the ends off by hand. If you're using veggies with thick skins like carrots, parsnips, and beets, you may want to peel them. You can leave these unpeeled, too—just note that they may take slightly longer to finish pickling. It's easiest to work with a peeler with a sturdy grip to keep your fingers from slipping.

When it comes to chopping or slicing, think about how you'll be using your pickled veggies. Thin slices, like discs of carrots, radishes, or jalapeños, are great as a sandwich filler or in a bowl with rice and eggs, while ginger or daikon matchsticks add a bit of texture to stir-fry or noodle dishes. Thicker sticks, typically carrots or cucumbers, can add crunch to a tuna sandwich or a bit of variety to your charcuterie plate. An 8-inch chef knife is comfortable if you're doing lots of chopping and can handle all of your vegetable prep for quick pickling.

"Brine" can refer to a few different things: a salt-water solution, or a salt, water, and vinegar mixture. The former is used for foods like lacto-fermented pickles and sauerkraut,and the vinegar-based brine is for quick pickles. In some cases, vinegar-based brines use both sugar and salt. To keep flavors balanced, make sure to use water and vinegar (not just straight vinegar), and if you are using sugar, keep the salt in the recipe.

Something magical happens once your vegetables are enrobed in their salty, vinegar-y bath. The salt and vinegar work their way into the vegetables, flavoring and preserving them. It takes a lot less time than you'd think, and most pickles will be ready overnight. Don't be afraid to let them sit in the fridge a bit longer, though: The longer your vegetables sit in a brine, the deeper the flavor.

Quick pickling is often an exercise in what you have on hand. Start by heating and stirring together 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar (apple cider or white vinegar are good options), 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt, and (if desired) 1 tablespoon of sugar. You can also make a quick pickle brine without turning on the stove, but the heat will meld ingredients together faster without adding time to the process.

Once your brine is ready, you can use it hot or cold. A warm brine soaks into the vegetables more quickly than cool brine and is a great choice to speed up pickling for dense, sturdy root vegetables or fresh, crunchy veggies. Allow your brine to cool down a bit, and pour slowly and with care to keep the heat from shocking and breaking your jar (it's unlikely, but better safe than sorry). For wilting or delicate veggies, always use brine that's been cooled to room temperature (or never heated at all). It's also the way to go if you're using a food-safe container that may not be heat resistant.

In some pickle recipes, spices and other flavorings are added to the brine as you're making it. In others, they're added to the jar along with the veggies. If you're looking for inspiration, add a little heat to your hot dogs and veggie burgers with spicy dill quick pickles. Or, forego the brine altogether and try something like Chef David Chang's Superfast Salt-and-Sugar Pickles, which preserves the crunch of radishes, daikon, and watermelon with a quick toss of fine sea salt and sugar.

You've prepped your veggies, made your brine, and assembled your spices. Now it's time to put everything together! Pack your veggies into a 16-ounce wide mouth mason jar as tightly as possible, as this keeps them from floating to the top.

If you have enough containers, consider putting a single kind of vegetable in each jar since they can pickle at varying speeds. For example, thinly sliced onions don't need as long as chunky carrot sticks. Vegetables like beets also leech color, which can be fun as long as you expect everything to turn pink. After the veggies are in the jar, place a funnel on top to avoid splashing and have more control over the amount of liquid you're adding.

If your spices aren't already in the prepared brine, add them at this step. Then, slowly pour the brine into the jar until your veggies are covered. Keeping your veggies under the brine is the biggest key to pickling success: otherwise, they won't pickle all the way through, and you run the risk of mold growing on the exposed areas. If your veggies keep floating up, consider getting pickle pebblesor other food-safe fermentation weights to help hold them in place.

Once the lid is securely closed, grab a piece of painter's tape and a permanent marker. You can use masking tape or a scrap of paper, too. Write down the date and attach it to the top so you don't have to remember which day you made the pickles when you reach for them later in the week.