Pickling to fight food waste

How to pickle vegetables

Pickling is the perfect way to use up leftover vegetables that you might otherwise throw away. Pickling isn’t as complicated as it sounds. In fact, you can pickle almost any vegetable! Follow our step-by-step guide to pickling below and make sure to check out our delicious recipes.

If you’ve never pickled before, we recommend starting with the classics. Experiment with pickled cucumber, pickled beetroot, pickled onions and pickled red cabbage. Read our steps below on how to get going!

  1. 1

    Prepare your vegetables

    Pickling works best with fresh vegetables. Choose the vegetables you’d like to use and wash thoroughly. Chop into whatever shapes you’d like them (discs are a safe option if you’re not sure).

  2. 2

    Season

    Place them in a bowl and toss them with enough salt so that each individual disc has a light covering. Leave for a minimum of one hour.

  3. 3

    Choose your pickling mixture

    Sarson’s classic pickling vinegars are a must but, to add extra flavour, you can pick from a whole range of sugars, herbs and spices that suit your tastes. Many people choose garlic, chilli and black peppercorns to add to their pickles, as these add a nice heat to the tangy, pickled flavour.

    If you choose to use our pickling vinegar range, all the hard work is done for you, but if you would like to experiment with your own flavours you can use malt vinegar as your base.

  4. 4

    Bring to the boil

    Pop your ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Immediately remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

  5. 5

    Place into a jar

    Drain off the excess liquid that has accumulated in the bottom of the vegetable bowl. Pack the vegetables into a Kilner jar and cover with the room-temperature vinegar solution.

  6. 6

    Leave to pickle

    Seal the jar and leave enough time for your ingredients to pickle (each recipe is different, don’t forget to check). This can be anything from overnight to six weeks, dependent on the type of vegetable and the amount of pickled flavour wanted.

  7. 7

    To finish

    Simply serve and enjoy! If you’ve pickled cucumber we suggest serving in a burger, or if you’ve pickled onions pair with a tasty ploughman’s. Pickled red cabbage works brilliantly in lunchtime wraps and pickled beetroot is delicious in a salad.