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Learn how to pickle and preserve Swedish style

Preserving veggies are the perfect way to enjoy the flavours of summer all year round — especially if you’ve got more onions than you know what to do with. Come learn 3 incredibly tasty ways to get going from chef and preserving pro, Martin Sjöstrand.

This week has taken the Idea’s team down to the southern tip of Sweden to meet up with Martin who runs the restaurant Hörte Brygga. Martin’s food at Hörte revolves around using seasonal produce to form what’s on the menu. But with Sweden’s short growing seasons, preserving has become a vital way to use those flavours for the rest of the year too.

“We get lots of fresh produce here and a big thing for us is extending the period where you can enjoy them — and enjoy them in different ways and different tastes. Preserving is almost like you have a bank account of flavours from all the seasons.”

The other big part is the enjoyment of the activity.

“Preserving’s got an authentic feeling that I think people are enjoying more and more. Instead of flying in cucumbers from the other side of the world, people now are growing them in their gardens and pickling them for the winter, just the way that people here in the old days had to do.”

Well, we’re convinced! Come see how to make three different preserving recipes that we’ve learned with Martin.

The easiest method

If you’ve never tried pickling before, Martin recommends to start with what’s called the 1-2-3 method. The idea is simple, you use 1 part vinegar to two parts white sugar and three parts water, then just adjust the amounts depending on the amount of veggies you’d like to preserve. Other keys parts are to use a just washed jar with a sealable lid, and make sure the pickling liquid covers your vegetables (root veggies are really good to use). Then you can eat your pickle after a week or store it for 6 months.

The flavoursome step-up

This method isn’t really harder, but it swaps pickling for fermentation as the preservation technique. Martin tells us using fermentation “is more about letting the produce preserve itself” and it’s especially good for drawing out the flavours of your ingredients to make a great complement to other dishes without taking over. Other keys parts are again, using just washed sealable jars and completely covering your ingredients with the preserving liquid.

The taste of Swedish summer

This last recipe uses the fermentation technique boosted with Swedish flavours that Martin’s been playing with from the local area.

“I think this’d go well with some grilled fish - there’s the peppery hit from the horseradish, the acidity from the lemon and the sweetness from the veggies. A light salad on the side and you’re all set.”