Homemade Pickling Spice
Inside: Learn how to make a homemade pickling spice to use in canning recipes.
Last year I made some pickled green beans for the first time. The beans had the perfect amount of crunch and were pretty tasty.
Except for one thing…they had an odd flavor. I pulled out my bottle of pickling spice I had purchased and checked the ingredients. I noticed it contained cinnamon. Cinnamon? Really? That was the unusual flavor I wasn’t expecting in my pickled beans.
While I love cinnamon in sweet things, in my opinion, it didn’t work with green beans. So I started researching other pickling spices thinking that I would just choose a different one.
Well, as I quickly discovered, so many brands of pickling spice contained either cinnamon or allspice. (If you’re not familiar with it, allspice is a dried berry that tastes like a blend of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.) Great for pumpkin bread. But not so great for pickled green beans or cucumbers or any other vegetable in my opinion.
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Homemade Pickling Spice Recipe
So I set out to make my own pickling spice to use in canning recipes.
While it is not usually advisable to adjust canning recipes you can safely adjust the ground or dried spices in a canning recipe.
Below is my homemade pickling spice recipe. You will probably find that it costs more upfront to make it, but you’ll have lots of leftover spices that you can freeze for later. (I like to freeze my bulk spices to keep them fresh.)
Or if you pickle a lot of vegetables, it will be more cost-effective to make your own pickling spice.
You are welcome to adjust the pickling spice recipe to suit your needs. Feel free to add cinnamon or allspice if that makes you happy. Just don’t share your pickled veggies with me.
You’ll find a printable copy of this recipe at the bottom of the post.
Ingredients for Homemade Pickling Spice
- 2 Tablespoons black peppercorns
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons mustard seed
- 2 Tablespoons coriander seed
- 2 Tablespoons dill seed
- 1-3 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes – depending on how spicy you like your pickles
- 5 bay leaves, crumbled
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. Use this homemade spice mix in any recipe that calls for pickling spice. Store extra pickling spice in a cool, dry place.
Related Posts
A basic homemade pickling spice recipe for use in canning recipes and refrigerator pickles.
- 2 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 Tbsp dried minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp mustard seed
- 2 Tbsp coriander seed
- 2 Tbsp dill seed
- 1-3 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 5 bay leaves, crumbled
-
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. Use this homemade spice mix in any recipe that calls for pickling spice. Store extra pickling spice in a cool, dry place.
Meet Julie
I’m a farm girl born and bred in North Carolina. I’ve been growing a vegetable garden for over 20 years (and helping my Mom grow hers even longer). I’ve been raising chickens in my bathtub and backyard for 12+ years. I believe that homegrown food can be made simple. Let’s get started.
