Simple Cooking - Pickled Radishes

By Anthony Todd in Food on Aug 6, 2010 6:00PM

We've been growing so many radishes in our garden plot, we haven't been able to eat them all! We also made a minor mistake with our lettuce-to-radish ratio, so we have a lot of radishes but no salads to put them in. We had plenty of jars left over from our infusion experiments, so pickling was clearly in order. We plan on showcasing a few different ways of processing and preserving some of the bounty of summer over the next few weeks - this is just the first!

Radishes aren't the most common thing to pickle, but like any bland, firm vegetable they pickle up very nicely. As with all pickling, vary the ingredients to taste - if you have an herb or spice you like, throw it in. One important note - we did NOT can these pickles in a water bath. These are strictly refrigerator pickles. They'll last plenty long, but keep that in mind.

Pickled Radishes

1-2 bunches of fresh radishes, sliced thick
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon mustard seeds (or 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
10-15 peppercorns

Bring all the ingredients except the radishes to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve, then turn off the heat. Put the radishes in the bottom of a jar or a sealed container - preferably glass. Once the mixture cools, pour it over the radishes. If it doesn't quite cover, add more water until it does. Seal and shake. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, then snack!

Note: If you hate cider vinegar (it has a very distinct smell and flavor) feel free to substitute something you like better. Red wine vinegar would work just fine.