What does your recipe say? ;) No recipe? Oh-o.

You have very different density veggies so you will have different times. Carrots, depending on how they are sliced, will have the longest times.

See link below for detailed instructions.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickling Vege. NCHFP

Well, I hope to use the same basic brine for all, as I REALLY dislike sweet pickled anythings (the pickled carrots at that link have a lot of sugar in the brine).

This is the recipe I used for pickled asparagus, and I like it. Any reason the same brine wouldn't work for other veggies?

10 pounds asparagus
6 large garlic cloves
4½ cups water
4½ cups white distilled vinegar (5%)
6 small hot peppers (optional)
½ cup canning salt
3 teaspoons dill seed

Raw pack, boiling brine, BWB 10 minutes.

Forgot to mention that the asparagus recipe I used last time (above) was from the NCHFP website. :-)

You can always leave the sugar out - it doesn't present a safety issue. But the process time is calculated based on the density of the vegetable and the size of the pieces. Carrots are many times more dense than asparagus or broccoli so they will need a longer processing time and will need to be in smaller pieces such as 1 1/2" slices.

So you need to use a recipe that both tells you how to size the pieces, how much to place in the jar, and dictates a processing time for that size and amount.

Guessing is hazardous even with pickling so the safe approach, the one we always advocate here, is to use an approved and tested recipe and do not make substitutions or estimates.

But ultimately it is up to you. We each have to decide our own level of acceptable risk. ;)

Dave

Robin, here is a pickled carrot recipe that isn't too sweet. I don't like sweet pickles, but this recipe has just enough to offset the vinegar, I think. It calls for baby carrots, so you could use carrot sticks no thicker than baby carrots. Coin slices should be ok too, as long as they're not too thick. By the way, I find the pickled peppers unappetizing to eat in such small mushy pieces, so I might leave them out next time...I didn't notice them in the flavor.

Pickled Baby Carrots with Oregano and Peppers
from Small Batch Preserving

3 T finely chopped oregano or 1 T dried
2 T each chopped sweet red and green pepper
1/4 t hot pepper flakes
2 small cloves garlic
1 lb peeled baby carrots
1 1/2 c white vinegar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/3 c water
1 t pickling salt

1. Combine oregano, peppers, and hot pepper flakes. Remove hot jars from canner and divide pepper mixture between them. Add 1 clove garlic to each jar and fill each with half the carrots leaving 1/2 inch head space. (There may be a few carrots left over.)

2. Meanwhile, combine vinegar, sugar, water, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

3. Pour hot liquid over carrots to within 1/2 inch of rim (head space). Process 15 minutes for pint jars.

Makes 2 pint jars.

If you want, you could choose to process all your jars for the longest time (e.g., if asparagus = 10, carrots = 15, broccoli = 20, you would process all for 20). That would make things unnecessarily mushy...I would just do separate boilings. If you can do them all pretty quickly in a row, you wouldn't be using too much extra fuel to boil the water since it's not cooling down in between.

One other thing, note the brine here is more than half vinegar, which means you can't assume a 1:1 water:vinegar mixture is a safe brine for carrots. I would try to find specific vegetable recipes to check the ratio of water to vinegar for each, then you can always use the same spices to get a similar taste to the pickled asparagus. Good luck!

Melissa

Thank you, Melissa - that was very helpful!

Because these are usin only a vinegar brine, a boiling water bath would work well. Broccoli will not hold up well due to the tiny buds. Asparagus gets very SOFT after a short time of heat processing. With all these mentioned, you will have a problem with most if you attempt to can tem all in the same batches. The finished textures of these PICKLED products may warrent the need to do blanching and freezing instead. I do know that I wouldn't care for broccoli that is pickled. Asparagus would be just too soft an delicate to be appreciated in a pickle brine.. Its just my 2 cents, or with todays prices, my 2 dollars..

Robin, don't forget pickled garlic. Search up the Bernardin recipe (contains white vinegar and white wine) and Marie's recipe for Persian sugar pickled garlic. I can only vouch for the first one from past experience, but I made both tonight so I can report back on the sweet ones within a few weeks. Sweet and hot garlic pickles taste good to me, unlike other sweet pickles.

I did what Ken does and bought a tub of peeled garlic at Costco. It is such a breeze, just make the brine and fill the jars. Pickles are the only time I get 100% success with good seals. Since these recipes specify half-pints, I use the wide mouth ones and my canner holds 2 layers.

Melissa

Thanks again, Melissa - peeled garlic is on my list for the next Costco trip. :-)

Canned a 10 pound bag of carrots today (just plain - I like to dress them up while heating) - got 12 pints put up. Also picked a bunch of strawberries from my garden - got 3 batches of jam worth of crushed berries bagged up in the freezer. All in all, a pretty productive day!

Tomorrow I shall pickle the asparagus I bought today - I could eat that every darn day. :-)