From Plot to Pot

A Jar of Allotment Pickles

From Plot to Pot: A Jar of Allotment Pickles 🥕🥒🌶️🌸

One of the joys of an allotment is finding yourself with a handful of vegetables that don’t quite make a meal on their own but are far too good to waste. A few radishes, a small cucumber, some carrots, a sprig of dill, perhaps a chilli or some green coriander seed… and suddenly you have the makings of a wonderful jar of homemade pickles.

This week, a small harvest became a colourful mixed pickle that should be perfect for sandwiches, salads, cheese boards, or simply nibbling straight from the jar.

Can You Pickle Radishes?

Absolutely!

Radishes pickle beautifully. They lose some of their peppery heat and develop a crisp, tangy flavour that becomes milder over a few days. Thin slices pickle quickly, but halved or quartered radishes retain a little more of their characteristic bite.

As a bonus, they turn the pickling liquor a beautiful rosy pink.

A Simple Allotment Mixed Pickle

Vegetables

  • A handful of radishes, halved or quartered
  • One small cucumber, sliced or cut into spears
  • One or two carrots, cut into thin batons
  • A few sprigs of fresh dill

Optional extras

  • 1 small garlic clove, sliced
  • ½–1 red chilli, sliced
  • 1–2 teaspoons fresh green coriander seed, gently crushed
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • A few black peppercorns

The Pickling Brine

  • 150ml white wine vinegar
  • 100ml rice vinegar
  • 100ml water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

The combination of white wine and rice vinegar gives a lovely balance – bright and tangy but softer and more delicate than plain white vinegar.

Method

Prepare the vegetables

  • Halve or quarter the radishes.
  • Slice the cucumber and lightly salt it for around 20 minutes before patting dry.
  • Cut the carrots into thin batons. A quick one-minute blanch in boiling water helps them absorb the pickle at the same rate as the other vegetables.

Make the brine

Place the vinegars, water, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Add any mustard seeds or peppercorns and heat gently until the sugar and salt dissolve.

There’s no need for a vigorous boil.

Pack the jar

Layer the vegetables attractively in a clean jar with the dill, garlic, chilli and crushed green coriander seeds.

Pour over the hot brine until everything is covered.

Allow to cool, then refrigerate.

When Is It Ready?

  • After 6–8 hours: bright, fresh and crisp.
  • After 24 hours: flavours begin to meld beautifully.
  • After 2–3 days: the radishes tint the brine pink and everything develops a wonderful balance of tang, sweetness, herbs and gentle spice.

The Flavours

The finished pickle has:
🥕 sweetness from the carrots
🌸 a mellow, slightly peppery note from the radishes
🥒 refreshing crunch from the cucumber
🌿 fragrant dill and citrusy green coriander seed
🌶️ a gentle warmth from the chilli

It’s colourful, crunchy and full of character – exactly the sort of thing that makes growing your own produce so rewarding.

Sometimes the best preserves aren’t made from gluts and bumper harvests at all. Sometimes all you need is a handful of vegetables from the allotment and an empty jar.

From Plot to Pot indeed! 🥕🥒🌶️🌸

Excerpt:
A few radishes, a cucumber, some carrots and herbs from the allotment became a vibrant mixed pickle. Here’s a simple small-batch recipe that turns odds and ends from the plot into a colourful jar of crunchy, tangy goodness.