Pickled Radishes Without Sugar - Quick Refrigerator Pickles

Quick Pickled Radishes Without Sugar

Many pickled-radish recipes add sugar to soften the vinegar. I prefer their fresher, more savoury flavour without it - particularly when serving them with pâté, cheese or rich meats.

Sugar is optional in this type of quick refrigerator pickle recipe. The salt seasons the radishes, while the vinegar supplies the acidity.

However, these are vinegar pickles rather than fermented vegetables, so they should not be confused with probiotic lacto-fermented pickles.

What Vinegar is Best for Pickled Radishes?

Use a good bottled white wine or cider vinegar labelled 5% acidity. White balsamic also works, but check the acidity on the bottle rather than assuming.

The vinegar affects both the flavour and the colour, so avoid cleaning vinegar, homemade vinegar or anything with unknown acidity. Official pickling guidance recommends food-grade vinegar with 5% acidity and warns against altering the vinegar-to-water ratio in a recipe.

In France, I particularly like vinaigre d'Orléans. Alexandre Dumas was a fan, which feels like a respectable excuse to buy the better bottle.

How to Make Quick Pickled Radishes

To pickle radishes, you need few ingredients:

• radishes - fresh small pink radishes (whole or cut in half if slightly bigger), but Daikon is also good, thinly sliced with a knife or a mandoline.
• bottled 5% acidity vinegar - white/rosé wine vinegar, cidre or white balsamic. I used half each of wine vinegar and balsamic.
• water & salt
• bay leaves & whole spices
• Chilli, garlic or thyme, if you fancy them.

Heat the vinegar, water, salt and spices, then leave the brine to cool slightly. Pack the prepared radishes closely into a sterilised jar and pour over enough brine to cover them completely.

Refrigerate for at least two days. Sliced radishes pickle fastest. Halves keep more crunch, while very small radishes can remain whole but need longer to absorb the flavour. Pack them closely so the brine reaches and covers them all.

You can use the same refrigerator-pickle method for sliced beetroot, red onions, cabbage or small cauliflower florets.

How Long do Pickled Radishes Last?

You can try them after a day, although the flavour improves after two or three days. I like them even better after a week.

Keep the jar refrigerated and ensure the radishes remain covered by the brine. Use a clean spoon rather than fishing them out with your fingers - however tempting.

Use the pickled radishes within three months. Oregon State University gives the same storage guidance for refrigerator-pickled vegetables.

Their aroma can strengthen as they sit, particularly after several weeks. That is normal, but discard them if you notice mould, an unusual texture or anything that looks or smells genuinely spoiled.

How to Sterlise Jars for Refrigerator Pickles

Wash the jar first. Place it upright in a saucepan, cover it completely with warm water and bring the water to the boil.

Boil for 10 minutes, then remove the jar carefully and leave it to drain. Keep it warm until you fill it to avoid sudden temperature changes. Wash the lid thoroughly according to its manufacturer's instructions.

A dishwasher cleans jars but does not necessarily sterilise them. Proper sterilisation requires the jar to remain submerged in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Are These Refrigerator Pickles Shelf Stable?

No. These are vinegar refrigerator pickles, not shelf-stable canned pickles, and the filled jars have not gone through a tested canning process. Sterilising the empty jar helps you start with a clean container, but it does not make the finished pickles suitable for cupboard storage.

They are also different from lacto-fermented pickles. Here, bottled vinegar provides the acidity immediately; fermented pickles develop acidity through fermentation.

Salt plays a more technical role in lacto-fermentation, where its quantity helps control the fermentation process; as chemist Raphaël Haumont explains, the salt quantity must relate to the weight of the vegetables and water.
This recipe uses vinegar instead, with salt mainly for seasoning.

What to Serve with Quick Pickled Radishes

Serve pickled radishes with:

• a charcuterie board, pâté or cold roasted meats.
• roast or grilled chicken
• Korean BBQ chicken; thanks to my friend, Christina Conte for introducing me to this in California! Try her delicious Korean recipes such as mung bean pancakes and Korean barbequed beef (Bulgogi).
• A place of cornichons in homemade tartar sauce or with a croque monsieur.
• in a simple green salad - or a few to a salade de chèvre chaud or Niçoise salad
• With bread and butter for a simple apéritif.

They are especially useful when a plate needs rescuing from an excess of beige.