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Hi!  I'm Noreen, wife, mother of two amazing, almost grown, daughters, content creator, cook, baker and sister in Christ. Welcome to my Kitchen!   I hope you stick around, enjoy the recipes and share them with those you love!

Good pickles start with good pickling spice.  Of course that is a subjective statement because what is good for me, may not be good for you.  So I have developed my own favorite blend for pickling.  It contains eleven different spices (kind of like some colonel I have heard of) and in my opinion creates a very delicious pickle.  You can easily find most of these spices in the grocery store spice aisle, but I will be creating a shopping list for your reference on my Amazon Influencer page so you can easily obtain what you need in bulk and economically if you desire.  If you have a friend or family member that can share in the cost, buying in bulk can be a great way to save money, especially on spices.  Look for the link below.

The pickling spice has eleven different items.  However the first five I will say are mandatory and without question, should not be left out, or fiddled with.  The remaining items can be increased, decreased or omitted if you don't like them or want to change their intensity in the spice blend.  Just be sure to keep the first five or your pickle, just won't taste like a pickle!

The top five must haves for this blend are mustard seed, coriander seed, dill seed, whole peppercorns and crushed bay leaves.  Those five things will give you a great pickle taste.  The rest are often found in pickling spices but not always.  The rest of my choices are dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, allspice berries, whole cloves, crushed cinnamon sticks and crushed chili de arbol.  

¼ cup dried, minced garlic
2 tablespoons allspice berries
2 tablespoons whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks, broken/crushed

2 tablespoons red pepper flakes or 6 crushed arbol chilies

Big Batch Pickling Spice

Summer is upon us and many are starting to reap the rewards of their first harvest from their garden.  In my area farm fresh produce such as strawberries, blueberries, squash and yes, cucumbers are abounding in the local groceries and road side stands.  Time to think about making pickles!  This year we are working hard to bring you refrigerator pickles and build a playlist filled with "no canning required" pickling recipes.  When you make pickles you will need pickling spice and that is where today's video comes into play!  Let's make big batch pickling spice just in time for pickling season!

This year we do not have a garden.  We opted to mow down, dig up and allow the soil in the yard to rest.  I am relying on the local farmers for my produce this year and this does not upset me! I am happy to support them. The local Piggly Wiggly had beautiful, local Kirby cucumbers this week and I could not think of a better way to share them than to make some delicious half sour refrigerator pickles. ​​

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1 Cup good quality mayonnaise
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Noreen's Kitchen
Big Batch Homemade Pickling Spice

​Combine all ingredients in quart jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well to distribute.

Store in a dark, cool, dry place for up to one year.

This recipe is very versatile.  You can leave out the warm spices if you choose, such as the cinnamon, cloves and allspice.  However you should not consider leaving out the top five ingredients which will give you good pickle flavor. 

 
 
                                        

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Notice that all of my spices are either whole seeds or crushed from a whole leaf or pod.  You may be tempted to use ground spices because you have them on hand.  I would warn sternly against this because using powdered or ground spices will leave you with a weak spice that will give you a terrible murky and muddy  brine in the end.  When the powdered spices sit for any length of time in the brine they over hydrate and turn into a sludge.  This is not only unpleasant to look at but unpleasant to eat as well.  Using the whole spices is definitely the way to go.

As I mentioned, this is my preferred blend of spices.  A blend that I have developed that my family enjoys and in our estimation, produces a very nicely flavored pickle, whether it be a dill, half sour, spicy or bread and butter variety.  This pickling spice is delicious.  However, some blends also add crushed cardamom pods, fenugreek seeds, star anise, and other spices with distinct flavors.  I have even seen some people add juniper berries to their pickling spice.    You should add whatever you like to yours in an amount that makes you happy.  

You can switch up the whole chili pods for red pepper flakes if you like and you can use yellow, brown or black mustard seed or a mixture of the three.  I have used a peppercorn blend that uses red, pink, black and green peppercorns but if you only have black, that works too.  

I hope you give this homemade, big batch pickling spice a try and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

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¼ cup mustard seed
¼ cup coriander seed
¼ cup dill seed
¼ cup black or mixed peppercorns
¼ cup bay leaves, crushed

¼ cup dried, minced onion