Pickles with the Right Salt Ratio
This recipe is a guide to making pickles with the correct salt ratio. The base is a brine for each litre of water with 3 tablespoons of rock salt, 15 g sugar, and 5 g lemon salt, with the option of adding washed dried chickpeas, garlic, fresh wild thyme, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Wash the vegetables and pack them into clean jars, then pour over the brine after testing its saltiness using the egg method, and keep them in a warm place to ferment. The transcript shows that the chef used cucumbers, turnips, peppers, cabbage, and beetroot, along with a plastic bag and wooden sticks to keep the vegetables submerged.
This is a guide for making pickles and getting the salt ratio right.
Like homemade salted pickled vegetables.
Salt balance matters most for safe, crisp pickles.
Ingredients
- for each litre of water Water
- 3 tablespoons for each litre of water Rock salt
- 15 g for each litre of water Sugar
- 5 g for each litre of water Lemon salt
- a few chickpeas Washed dried chickpeas
- a few cloves Garlic
- Fresh wild thyme
- Black peppercorns
- Bay leaves
- 3 kg Peppers
- 7 kg Turnips
- 4 kg Cucumbers
- 6 kg Cabbage
- 2 to 3 slices Beetroot
- Wooden sticks
Instructions
- Wash the jars and utensils thoroughly with boiling water, then leave them to cool and dry them well.
- Wash the vegetables thoroughly before use.
- Cut the turnips without peeling them, cutting them into thick pieces while leaving the peel around the pieces.
- Cut the beetroot into thin slices or thin rounds to give the pickles colour.
- Make a lengthwise slit in the cucumbers without reaching the other end; they can be peeled if they have bruises or blemishes.
- Make a lengthwise slit in the peppers without reaching the other end, keeping them whole at the top and bottom.
- Cut the cabbage into medium-sized pieces, not very small ones.
- Pack the vegetables lengthwise and tightly into the jars, without large gaps.
- Add a few garlic cloves to each jar if you want the flavour.
- Add an amount of washed dried chickpeas to each jar.
- Add slices of beetroot to each jar to colour the pickles.
- Prepare a brine for each litre of water using 3 tablespoons of rock salt, 15 g sugar, and 5 g lemon salt.
- Mix the brine well until the salt dissolves completely.
- Test the saltiness of the brine using the egg method, until only the tip of the eggshell is visible.
- Pour the brine over the vegetables until they are completely submerged.
- Press the vegetables down inside the jar if they rise to the top, so they remain submerged in the brine.
- Seal the jar tightly.
- Place the jars in a warm place away from strong sun, high heat, and cold.
- Leave the pickles until they ferment and mature.
- Use a clean spoon when removing pickles, and do not return removed pickles to the jar.