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There are so many foods you can pickle; you could fill your pantry shelves for months. The most basic definition of pickling is using a solution to store foods in and prevent spoilage, per The Science of Cooking. Most often, for at-home canning, vinegar is the preferred choice. There are many varieties of vinegar and Self explains that when pickling, you really can choose whichever type you like, though white vinegar is the most common choice.
Which vegetables would you choose to pickle? Although we always think of cucumbers, there are so many veggies that work just as well. Carrots, cauliflower, garlic, mushrooms, and even pickled onions are fabulous as a snack or to throw on top of tacos, salads, and sandwiches. So, what should you do if you want to pickle a lot of different vegetables? Are they best in separate jars or can you mix them all together into a vegetable medley? The answer is yes to both. Still, there is one thing to consider before pickling different veggies in the same jar.
Some veggies are softer than others
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Sure, you can pickle just about anything, but do they all pickle in the same way? Will a mushroom stand up to the pickling process the same way a carrot would? Not exactly, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy pickled mushrooms right alongside a crispier veggie. You just need to pickle them separately and then let them join each other in one jar. Dawn Perry, a food editor tells Bon Appétit, "I'm going to take a stand here, and say that you pickle each vegetable separately," says Perry. "Treat each one as its own pickle, even if you eventually put them together."
Consider the veggies you're pickling and how fast they soften when you use them in something like soup. That will give you an idea of which ones will need more time than others during the pickling process. A hearty veggie like a radish won't soften up when pickling as fast as a chunk of zucchini will. And there's also color. Beets are sure to turn the canning jar pickling liquid, purple. If you want your pickled broccoli green and your cauliflower white, then don't mix them with beets or other colors that may bleed. In the end, go ahead and mix veggies together before storing them if that's important to you. Just let each one go through its pickling process on its own, first.
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