Perfectly Piquant Pickles

The current renaissance in food preservation has brought some long overdue awareness to the craft of vinegar pickling. Modern canning companies are popping up all across the globe and creating fresh, quirky, and inspired takes on the traditional pickles we know and love.

Any vegetable or fruit submerged in a vinegar brine or having vinegar added to it is in pickle territory. This includes condiments, and a myriad of fruit and vegetable pickles. While the varieties on the market are worth a try, pickles are also quite simple to make at home. There are two methods of vinegar pickling: refrigerator and fresh-pack canned. Refrigerator pickles are raw or blanched vegetables or fruits that are immersed in brine, and then placed in the fridge to cure for up to two days. Sometimes these pickles are cold-brined, which is best for very thinly cut or soft vegetables. Usually, however, we pour hot brine over the vegetables, helping the flavors to penetrate quickly.

Two methods are used to create fresh-pack canned vinegar pickles. With hot pack, the vegetables or fruit are