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The Quick Pickle Picnic Trick

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This one’s more than just a clever headline (although, yes—it is pretty clever). Also known as refrigerator pickles or vinegar pickles, quick pickles are (as advertised) a quicker method of preserving fresh vegetables and fruits than the weeks-long, brine-based fermentation process used for traditional Eastern European dill pickles or kimchi.

Quick pickling involves little more than immersing your favorite crispy crudités—sticks of carrot, cauliflower florets, quartered radish—in a solution of vinegar, water, and salt, adding sugar, herbs, spices, different varieties of vinegar, and other aromatics to suit your taste.

Rainbow Carrots

A couple of things about choosing your vegetables

Crunch. Quick pickling works with most any naturally crunchy vegetable that you would eat raw (or blanched), whether on its own, as a salad component, or as a condiment for cooked food. Apart from the aforementioned carrots, cauliflower, and radishes, other vegetables that work well include cucumbers (sliced or speared), green beans, sliced fennel, onions and shallots (particularly for salads and condiments), and roots like turnips and beets.

How crunchy you like your pickles will determine whether or not you blanch the vegetables first in the vinegar solution and whether or not you boil the solution at all.

Color. While vinegar pickling tends to dull the color of green vegetables, it can illuminate vegetables that are on the red-orange-yellow end of the spectrum. If you’re particular about keeping your pickles uniform in color, you’ll want to store them separately. And if you plan to blanch different vegetables—say, cauliflower and radishes—in the same vinegar solution, you’ll want do the radishes last unless you don’t mind ending up with pink cauliflower.

Basic Brine for Quick Pickles

Fresh vinegar-pickled vegetables
Print Recipe
Prep Time 29 mins
Cook Time 1 min
Cooling/Pickling Time 45 mins
Total Time 1 hr 15 mins
Course Appetizer, Salad, Snack

Ingredients
  

  • Assorted fresh vegetables e.g., asparagus, beets, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, fennel, onions, radishes, shallots, turnips
  • 1 1/2 cups vinegar white wine, rice vinegar, distilled
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1-2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 bay leaf
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • 2-3 whole cloves
  • 1-2 cloves garlic sliced in half
  • 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions
 

  • Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil until salt and sugar are dissolved.
  • Wash, peel, trim, and/or cut vegetables into crudités.
  • Blanch vegetables in the brine for 30-60 seconds.
  • Remove and allow vegetables and brine to cool to room temperature.
  • Pack vegetables in glass containers, cover with brine, and refrigerate to keep for a week to 10 days.
Keyword brine, crispy, crudites, crunchy, fermentation, fresh pickles, quick pickles, refrigerator pickles, vinegar

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Who says you can’t picnic in the winter? Emergin Who says you can’t picnic in the winter? Emerging from Winter Solstice and thinking back to our Santa Lucia picnic a couple of weeks ago in Central Park. We planned for cold, grey weather - all the better for wearing our candle crowns - but instead we got one of those glorious warm December days that happen sometimes. There were Santa Lucia saffron buns, Jansson’s Temptation,potato soup,  homemade gravlax, meatballs, pickled beets, cheeses, glögg, aquavit, and cookies galore. And one Swede to make it all official. Oh, and halfway through a group of singers showed up with bells and Christmas carols. It was kind of perfect. Grateful to my creative picnic pod for making winter picnicking a tradition we will continue. 📸 @jonas_snapsalot . #picnicfancy #picnicpod #santalucia #solstice #lightiscoming
This year, how about a small, outdoor Thanksgiving This year, how about a small, outdoor Thanksgiving inspired by Sean Sherman @the_sioux_chef ? In anticipation of the holiday, our small picnic-pod gathered in Central Park for a four-course meal of recipes from this beautiful and inspiring book. We started with deviled duck eggs and crispy bean cakes, a mushroom and sweet potato soup, followed by a salad with griddled squash, and a main course of cider-braised turkey thighs served with wild rice pilaf and three sister’s mash. Dessert was autumn harvest cookies and amaranth bites. It was the perfect meal in these imperfect times. I can’t recommend this book enough - both for the storytelling and the recipes. You can follow Sean Sherman’s work at @siouxchef , natifs_org and @indigenousfoodlab.  This holiday, consider donating to the Indigenous Food Lab in Minneapolis to help them feed tribal families in need. Link in bio. 📸: @jonas_snapsalot #siouxchef #thanksgiving #friendsgiving #socialdistancing #indigenouslivesmatter #indigenousfood #pandemicpicnic #picnicfancy
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The weather is moody here in NYC, but tomorrow morning looks like it will be sunny and gorgeous! What better way to enjoy than to whip up these super-easy lemon scones, grab your favorite coffee, and head out to your favorite spot for a breakfast picnic!  Recipe link in bio!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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For us, that spot is lower Riverside Park, overlooking the Hudson. What's yours?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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✨Happy Friday!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It's P ✨Happy Friday!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It's Pimms o'clock somewhere! What we love about a good Pimms Cup is that you can really make it your own, with whatever garnish captures your fancy. It's also easy to make a pitcher, which you can put in a jar and take outside to a croquet match or...... a picnic✨🧺.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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RECIPE:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1 bottle Pimm's No. 1 Cup⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1 bottle sparkling lemonade or ginger ale⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1 -2 sliced cucumbers (not optional) along with the garnish of your choosing: citrus, assorted berries, stone fruits, sprigs of mint or rosemary are all good options.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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INSTRUCTIONS:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1. Play a game of croquet or involve yourself somehow in a polo match, sailing regatta, or Wimbledon).⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2. Retire to the lawn, veranda, or gazebo. (A stoop or black-tar rooftop will do.)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
3 Fill a pitcher (or jar!) with ice, add a 50/50 mixture of Pimm’s and sparkling lemonade or ginger ale, and stir together with sliced cucumber and fruit.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
4. Hello, I make that Pimm’s O’Clock!  Serve with salty snacks and suddenly that dank back alley you call your “outdoor space” is the Garden at the Goring Hotel. Cheers!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Sometimes you just want a picnic without all the c Sometimes you just want a picnic without all the cooking. Enter Perfect Picnic! At the end of a long week we were excited to meet up with some friends we hadn't seen in ages in Central Park (at a distance, of course!) With no time to cook, we decided to try out Perfect Picnic NYC since that was exactly what we were going for.⁣
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We ordered the 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘯𝘪𝘤 which was plenty of food for all of us. It came with 8 delicious mini-baguettes, from fresh goat cheese and fig to prociutto with blue cheese and pears. There was a generous cheese platter, a big salad, chips, lemonade and cookies for dessert. All delivered to our door in an adorable tote with little picnic blankets, included.⁣
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Perfect Picnic also offers full-service picnic experiences. Gorgeous set-ups for special occasions, catered by them, or in partnership with local restaurants. Looking to propose? I would give them a call.⁣ ✨🧺@perfectpicnicnyc 
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#perfectpicnicnyc #picnicfancy #localrestaurants #eatlocal #picniclove #eatoutside #picnicreview #centralpark #bigbackyard
The hibiscus flowers used in tea originated in Afr The hibiscus flowers used in tea originated in Africa. In Senegal, it is known as Bissap. Ghanaians know it as Sobolo, and in Nigeria, it’s Zobo. In Jamaica, it’s called sorrel and is typically combined with grated ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and rum or wine for a festive Christmas punch. In Mexico, it is called Agua de Jamaica and can be found nearly everywhere.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Happily, it is easy to make and the perfect refreshment for hot summer days:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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INGREDIENTS:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2 cups dried hibiscus flowers⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
8 cups water⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
sugar, honey, agave syrup, or another sweetener of your choice⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Cover hibiscus flowers in fresh, cold water and let sit overnight.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Strain the flowers through a cheese-cloth-lined sieve and sweeten to taste.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Serve over ice.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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