how to pickle my vegetables

Cool, briny pickles straight from the fridge are one of the simplest pleasures of summer. Quick pickling is also a brilliant solution for preserving a plethora of vegetables from the market or your garden. Quick pickling doesn’t require canning or a bushel of vegetables. Best of all, you can adapt this simple formula for any fresh vegetables; try a mixture of vinegars and spices for a truly custom pickle pleasure

Quick pickles are also known as refrigerator pickles. They are simply vegetables that are pickled in a vinegar, water, and salt (sometimes sugar, too) solution and stored in the refrigerator. Quick pickles don’t develop the deep flavor that fermented pickles do, but they also only require a few days in the brine before they can be enjoyed. Quick pickles also do not require canning when refrigerated.

Pickling is best done with super-fresh vegetables.

Save the slightly bruised specimens for soups

or other forms of preservation.

Almost any vegetable can be pickled,

and the shape you choose to pickle in

is entirely up to you.

For example, carrots can be peeled

and sliced into matchsticks or coins.

Cherry tomatoes are best preserved whole.

Green vegetables, such as green beans or asparagus,

can be blanched in boiling water

for two to three minutes

and then shocked in an ice bath to preserve their color,

but this step is purely optional.