Pickling Vinegar

[JoyfulCook]

For the storage of pickling vinegar there is no better vessel than a glass, cork stoppered flask. Vinegar is a highly acidic liquid and is capable of drawing flavours from many other type of materials. Glass is completely inert and impervious to the corrosive actions of vinegar. Similarly metal or plastic screw tops or stoppers are easily attacked by vinegar, whereas the natural properties of cork make it the ideal closer.
When preparing pickling vinegar it is essential that a good quality vinegar is used. Cheap vinegars are usually very harsh with little flavour. This harshness will mask the delicate flavours imparted by the spices you will want to add.

There Are Five Main Varieties of Vinegar.

Malt Vinegar – this old fashioned favourite is excellent for pickling onions and eggs and favours being spiced with mace, coriander, black peppercorns and allspice.
Red Wine Vinegar – idea for pickled red cabbage and beetroot. It loves to be paired with the oriental spices of ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
White Wine Vinegar – best used for pickling fresh vegetables such as cauliflower, French beans and gherkins. The light spices of caraway, mustard seed, rosemary and thyme suit this vinegar.
Cider Vinegar – beloved of the pickled egg and the base for all good fruit chutneys, this vinegar will go well with the sweet spices of cinnamon, cummin, cloves and coriander.
Distilled Vinegar – very harsh and colourless, it is used diluted to pickle eggs, gherkins and silver skin onions. Most spices and herbs will blend with this vinegar as it has little taste of its own.


To make a good pickling vinegar:
Place the vinegar of your choice in a saucepan, preferably made of stainless steel. The saucepan must also have a lid.
Add 1 tablespoon of sea salt to every litre of vinegar, plus any herbs and spices you want. Usually a teaspoon per litre will be enough.
Bring the vinegar to the boil, place the lid on the saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.
Allow to cool and store in glass oil and vinegar preserving bottles until use.
Before use reheat the vinegar if necessary. Different recipes may call for it to be hot when poured onto the pickles.

If you have any ideas or tips do please share them here with us.

[Sharon123]

I make Ginger and Spice Vinegar to make English Pub Style Pickled Eggs.

[chicken_feets]

I've made pickled eggs in the past, several times, using a base recipe I found on the net.

This past summer I made refrigerator pickles using garden fodder.

Both recipes called for plain distilled white vinegar.

[chicken_feets]

Here's a pic of this past summer's garden refrigerator pickles. The peppers are cayenne, bell and banana. In the beginning of the summer we had cucumbers in there. I made this every month or so until the bushes stopped producing.