Easy pickled radishes

Lexi Bird’s pickling adventures on Instagram caught our eye and she kindly agreed to share her recipes for homemade zucchini ribbon pickles and these easy pickled radishes. Keen to give them a go? Here’s Lexi with the low-down.

I have been a fan of pickles for as long as I remember. My mum always tells the story about how she basically lived on gherkins for the entire nine months that she was pregnant with me so this pickling business is basically in my DNA! And these radishes are pretty sublime but before you get completely overwhelmed with excitement, please ensure that you have the following in your possession…

Ingredients

800g radishes
2 cups spirit vinegar
2 cups water
60ml raw, unfiltered honey
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp brown mustard seeds
1 pinch celery seeds
1 tsp whole black pepper corns
4 bay leaves

3 x 500ml preserve jars

Method

1. Start by chucking your radishes into a colander and giving them a good scrub. I choose not to peel them because their skin turns the pickles a beautiful pink colour after about 24 hours. Once they are all scrubbed, use a sharp knife or a mandoline and cut the radishes into thin slices (watch those fingers!). The thickness of your slices is entirely up to you, obviously the thicker the slice, the bigger the crunch.
2. Once all the radishes are chopped, distribute the slices amongst the three jars. It might seem like you have way too many radish slices, this problem can be solved by simply forcing them into the jars.
3. Once your radishes are safely in their vessels, combine the remaining ingredients in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as the liquid boils, and the honey dissolved, turn off the heat and pour over the radishes until they are completely covered. Make sure you distribute all the little seeds and pips equally between the jars otherwise one jar will get all the pizzazz.
4. As soon as your radishes are safely immersed and well on their way to becoming insanely delicious pickles, seal the jars and let them cool. Only once they are cool will they be ready to eat, do not open the jar until they are cool and all the delicious juices have had time to do their thing. Leave them for about 24 hours before munching on them and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Like the sound of this? Then you should check out Lexi’s homemade zucchini ribbon pickles and her top pickling tips.