Asparagus is amazing roasted, pan fried, in a quiche, mixed in a pasta, pureed in a soup, with eggs on toast... you get this picture. We also love extending the asparagus season by pickling our fresh asparagus and eating it straight out of the jar.
Ingredients Per 1L Jar:
- 15-20 fresh small-medium sized asparagus spears
- 2 cloves of garlic sliced in half
- 2 tsp of mustard seeds
- a few peppercorns
-
2 fresh sprigs of dill, or 1/2 tsp of dried dill or dill seeds
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp pickling salt (regular salt will make it cloudy)
- 3 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Sterilize wide mouth jars in boiling water, oven or sanitize cycle in the dishwasher. Don't let jars fully cool as when you pour the hot liquid in, a cold jar may crack.
- Rinse asparagus in cold water while you are sanitizing your jars
- Put garlic, mustard seed, peppercorns and dill in the bottom of each jar once sanitized.
- Measure asparagus to length of jar and chop off woody ends. Asparagus spears should leave 1/2 inch head space.
- Pack asparagus into jar. Fit should be tight.
- Put water, vinegar, sugar and salt in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Once the liquid has boiled, fill each jar with the liquid to the top of the spears. This should leave you the desired 1/2 inch head space.
- Put on lids and rings fastening bands to be fingertip tight. Place jars in the canning rack or basket in a hot water bath of boiling water.
- Process for 10 minutes.
- Using canning tongs, pull out hot jars and place them on a kitchen towel, not directly on the counter. Allow jars to sit untouched for 12 hours.
- After 12 hours, check the seal. If the center pops when you press down on it, your seal is bad. Refrigerate and use within two weeks.
- All sealed jars can have rings removed and be kept in a cool dark place.
Check out our tips on canning hereFor a quick pickle without the fuss of canning, follow the above recipe without the need to sanitize the jars or heating the filled jars. Just simply put the filled jars directly in the fridge and eat asparagus within two weeks.
