The A to Z List of Top Vegetables and Fruit to Pickle 

You may not be aware of this, but virtually every vegetable or fruit can be pickled – and you can even pickle meats such as pork, beef, chicken, fish, and tofu (you have probably heard of pickled eggs as well!). But as much as we’d like to pickle everything to preserve it, some produce is more delicious than most when it comes to pickling. They are also more common – pickled cucumbers (the quintessential pickle) to pickled lemons, carrots and cabbages, pickled tomatoes, and pickled peaches. But there’s a particular way of choosing the vegetables to ensure that the pickled product is of high quality – so here’s the A to Z list of vegetables and fruit to pickle – and how to choose the best ones. 

General recommendations

In general, only the freshest and most seasonal fruits and veggies can be pickled to ensure the highest quality. And there are other ways to determine if a fruit or veggie is suitable for pickling – it depends on the fruit or veggie, as you can see below:

• Cabbage

Cabbage is one vegetable widely known as a pickle, and in countries like Germany and Belgium, it is known as sauerkraut or rohtkol. In countries like Korea, it is also fermented, known as kimchi. You can use green and red cabbage for pickling, but make sure to discard the damaged leaves on the outermost layer and rinse the cabbage before pickling. For sauerkraut, it’s essential to measure the amount of salt carefully, as there is a delicate balance between preservation and fermentation. 

• Cucumbers 

Cucumbers are perhaps the most popular pickled vegetable in the world, and it also comes in different varieties – from the salty dill pickle to the sweet and tangy gherkin. For it to be crunchy and crispy, you should pickle it soon after harvesting it – like the wholesale pickles from EE & Brian Smith. Moreover, for the pickles not to have too many seeds in the centre, choose smaller cucumbers. Slice off the end where there is a blossom and discard it to make it crisp. Bread-and-butter pickles are also made with the addition of other ingredients, such as bell peppers and onions. 

• Peppers

Peppers used for pickling can vary greatly as well, and the difference is in the kind of pepper you use, plus the preparation method and the brine. Make it a point to select those that are brightly coloured and fresh and choose those that have thick flesh. Some suitable pepper varieties include yellow wax, Hungarian, sweet bell, Cubanelle, sweet cherry pepper and sweet banana peppers. Make a couple of slits to let the pepper absorb the brine if you plan to pickle peppers whole. 

• Tomatoes 

When it comes to pickling, you can do it with tomatoes – and you have the added advantage of pickling unripened tomatoes, too. However, be careful that they are not too ripe, and cherry tomatoes work well for bite-sized treats. 

There’s no limit to the kinds of fruits and vegetables you can pickle – we’ve only scratched the surface! You can pickle everything from apples to citrus to corn, from garlic and ginger to pears and pineapples. 

Image attributed to Pixabay.com