Keeping with the theme of cruciferous vegetables, broccoli is up next for this week’s pickle recipe. TBH, I haven’t tried these yet but one variation I made is super close to the cucumber crowd pleaser recipe and the spicy version is probably fail-proof for anyone who likes a little kick. So if you’re craving something garlicky, dilly and/or spicy, go forth and pickle some baby trees!
UPDATE: Both the dill version and spicy ones were a huge hit with my girlfriends at a recent Oscar-viewing party.
Pickled Broccoli Recipe
Makes 5 pints
Ingredients:
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 1/4 cup pickling salt
- 10 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp red pepper flakes (for 2-3 jars of the spicy version)
- Fresh dill and/OR
- ~6 pepper(s) of choice*
- 4 stalks of broccoli (or about 2 lbs. if that’s your measurement jam)
*I used Anaheim (mild) but this is the best guide to different kinds of peppers I’ve found so go wild
Instructions:
- Bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil until salt is fully dissolved. Rather than let this cool as usual, I actually poured hot brine over the broccoli (final step – don’t do this now) to cook it a bit.
- Fill each jar with 1 garlic clove halved length-wise.
- Fill jars with whatever mixture of dill, red pepper and fresh peppers your heart desires. This was the breakdown I did:
- 2 sprigs of dill each in 2 pint jars
- 1 tbsp red pepper and 1 pepper in different pint jar; 2 tbsp red pepper and 2 peppers in quart jar
- Cut up broccoli into small florets; at this point you could blanche for a slightly softer texture…or do the hot brine trick above.
- Fill jars with broccoli florets. Save those stumps for something else if you’re thrifty like that.
- After jars are packed with produce, add another halved garlic clove to each. Then top with whatever mixture of other add-ons that you want. I did the same as above:
- 2 sprigs of dill each in 2 pint jars
- 1 tbsp red pepper and 1 pepper in different pint jar; 2 tbsp red pepper and 2 peppers in quart jar
- Top each mixture with the brine and let cool. Refrigerate after opening.
- Recommended use: I would give these a few days since broccoli is tough and could use a little saturation from the brine and add-ons.
Can you use frozen broccoli florets ?
Good question – I’ve never pickled anything frozen so I’m not sure how the process would handle frozen produce so I would suggest at least thawing them to refrigerator-temperature before pickling. Hope that helps!
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How long would these jars last. And would you use a boiling bath or a canner?
Friends and family always finish them before they go “bad” 🙂 But I’ve had jars in my fridge for up to two months and they still maintain a great crunch! I do not use a boiling bath or canning techniques for these – just clean jars and lids and I always refrigerate after opening.