But first things first, what’s pickling exactly ?

Pickling is the pre-fridge era practice of preserving your food - being vegetables, cheese or meat - into a brine: salt + water

That’s it, that simple really

Salt and Water

Now of course you are going to make it with good quality salt and good water.

Salt: sea salt (and not table salt) because table salt is often mixed with additive like iodine or conservatives that could affect your brine. First grade sea salt is best because you are looking for its integrity and ionic compounds.

Water: unchlorinated (you let it sit on your counter for an hour or so) that is if you drink your tap water, otherwise stick to mineral water.

Hands washed: hygiene for all things fermented is paramount

Glass jar washed: same with an organic unscented washing detergent, ideal is simply a bit of vinegar

Wooden spoon or stainless steel spoon: non-reactive tools are absolutely necessary to preserve the integrity of your interactions with your brine.

Risk level: NONE, because that’s an acidic environment, the “bad bacteria” can’t develop. The real risk would be with canning after a jam sterilisation gone wrong. And pickling is absolutely the opposite of that, so no matter what, you’re safe to experiment