When I don't know what else to do with an abundance of asparagus, it gets pickled. Surprised at how much I like those since I'm generally not a big asparagus fan. The recipe that started us pickling asparagus is from Love and Lemons.
But things have deviated from that quite a bit.
- We use quart mason jars which are larger than what they use. To accommodate, the amount of brine needs to be at least 150% of that recipe, ie: 1 1/2 C of both water and vinegar.
- I used apple cider vinegar.
- Did use the sugar and salt. Seemed to salty at first taste, but it mellowed out with marination.
- Did use shallots since there were plenty left over from last summer's grow.
- Used the garlic.
- Didn't use the dill since none was available at the time. Substituted pickling spices from Walmart until I got a taste I liked. Mrs commented I might have over done it.
- Didn't add peppercorns as pickling spices were used, instead.
Many asparagus pickling recipes suggest pre-blanching. This one doesn't do that. They heat the brine and pour it over the raw asparagus in the jar and let it cool on the counter. This probably serves the same purpose as blanching and then adding cool brine. To facilitate killing off any surface bacteria, made sure the brine was at least 170 degrees (F) before adding it to the raw asparagus. Once it cooled to room temperature it went into the fridge.
Don't know how long it might be good for when stored in the fridge. Didn't last more than a couple of days. Well received. Great snack.