Kiwi Kylee Newton is a passionate self-taught preserver. Her book, The Modern Preserve, keeps us in step with the seasons and helps to rediscover a timeless kitchen craft, with 130 creative and unique recipes for both preserves and recipes to use them in.
Here we share her basic fruit brine recipes, helpful tips and tricks - and some delicious combinations of fruits and flavourings.
Fruit is great pickled and this needs to be celebrated more. Pickled fruits can be added to sweet or savoury dishes alike, from cakes to salads.
Sugars and salt can be tweaked according to the sweetness of the fruits. Play around with these to suit your tastes, and taste your brines while making them, adding things when needed. Fruit pickles generally don't keep as well as vegetable ones, so they tend to need to be stored in the fridge to preserve them better.
Keep your fruits whole (skin on and pricked) or peeled, sliced, diced, cut into discs or batons, or grated. Prep the fruit bearing in mind how you want to present them later.
Recipe notes
- Quick fruit pickles should be put into a sealed airtight container, ensuring the produce is completely covered by the brine and stored in the fridge. They will be ready to eat in 1–2 hours and need to be eaten within 2–4 weeks.
- Preserved pickles will need to be stored unopened in a cool, dark place for about 3–4 weeks before opening. Once opened, store in the fridge for greater longevity. Pears, peaches and berries tend to need moving to the fridge earlier, but plums, rhubarb and cherries seem to hold out in a cool, dark space for quite a while.
- Different fruits will keep for different amounts of time, 3–18 months, so keep an eye on them, as they may be tempted to ferment and the jars may need burping (to release the gases) from time to time. It is perfectly fine for them to start to ferment and the brine may become bubbly and fizz over, so open over a sink.
Basic brine recipes
The method for making up each of these brines is the same, although you can experiment with different spice and vinegar combinations. See below for some fabulous flavour combinations.
Quick sweet pickle brine, 1:1:1
Makes about 250ml
100ml vinegar
100ml filtered water
100g sugar
Pinch of sea salt (optional)
Spices/herbs, as desired
Preserving sweet pickle brine
Makes 850ml, enough for a 1 litre jar
600ml vinegar
150–200ml filtered water
100–200g sugar
1–3g sea salt
Spices/herbs, as desired
1. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and spices in a large, non-reactive pan, keeping any fresh herbs to one side until the jarring stage. Place over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve and the spices infuse. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then allow the brine to cool slightly (or completely if using more porous produce).
2. Pack your prepped produce into appropriately sized, clean (or sterilised), cool jars. Try to fit in as much as possible without squashing or forcing too tightly, leaving a gap of about 1cm (½in) from the top rim.
3. Pour the brine over the fruit. Gently tap out any trapped bubbles, or use a chopstick to manoeuvre the bubbles out, making sure you get out as many as you can (this trapped air can encourage fermentation). Top up with brine again so the produce is entirely covered, up to 2–3mm (⅛in) from the very top, and seal with a sterilised dry lid.
Pickled fruit combinations
Pickled pears
Makes a 1 litre
2–3 pears, whole, pricked, or peeled or chopped (blanch if very firm)
600ml (2½ cups) white wine vinegar
200ml (¾ cup) filtered water
150g (¾ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt
3 strips of pared lemon zest
50ml (3½ Tbsp) lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods, gently smashed
¾ tsp black peppercorns
3 sprigs of lemon thyme
Pickled cherries
Makes a 500ml jar
300g (10½oz) cherries, pricked or stoned (pitted)
250ml (1 cup) cider vinegar
100ml (⅓ cup) filtered water
150g (¾ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt
3 strips of pared orange zest
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 cardamom pods, gently smashed
Pickled rhubarb
Makes a 1 litre jar
600g (1lb 5oz) rhubarb, cut into slices 2cm (¾in) thick or 8–10cm (3–4in) batons
500ml (2 cups) white wine vinegar
200ml (¾ cup) filtered water
100g (½ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt
2 sprigs of lemon thyme
1 tsp black peppercorns
4 strips of pared orange zest
5cm (2in) piece of fresh root ginger, sliced
Pickled gooseberries
Makes a 1 litre jar
600g (1lb 5oz) gooseberries, topped and tailed
300ml (1¼ cups) white wine vinegar
200ml (¾ cup) filtered water
120g (scant ⅔ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
⅛ tsp crushed chilli (red pepper) flakes
2 strips of pared lemon zest
Juice of ½ lemon
Pickled peaches
Makes a 1 litre jar
3–4 peaches, halved or quartered, stoned (pitted)
600ml (2½ cups) white wine vinegar
200ml (¾ cup) filtered water
100g (½ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt
½ cinnamon stick
1 tsp black peppercorns
½ tsp chilli (red pepper) flakes
2 bay leaves
5 strips of pared lemon zest
Pickled plums
Makes a 750ml jar
450g (1lb) plums, whole, pricked
250ml (1 cup) cider vinegar
150ml (⅔ cup) filtered water
100g (½ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt
3 strips of pared lemon zest
3 cardamom pods, gently crushed
2 star anise
½ tsp black peppercorns
Pickled blackberries/blueberries
Makes a 500ml jar
400g (14oz) blackberries or blueberries
250ml (1 cup) white wine vinegar
100ml (⅓ cup) filtered water
80g (generous ⅓ cup) white/golden granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt
½ cinnamon stick
½ tsp black peppercorns
½ tsp juniper berries
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 bay leaf
2 strips of pared lemon zest
2cm (¾in) piece of fresh root ginger, sliced
Troubleshooting for homemade fruit pickles
Not enough brine? This can happen because fruits come in different sizes and different cooks cut them in different ways. The shape of the jar can affect things, too. If you find yourself just a couple of millimetres out, then top up with a little vinegar. However, if you find yourself with anything above 40ml (3 tablespoons) too little, it's best to make some more. It is better to have too much brine with some left over, which you can always store in the fridge and use to pickle something else.
Always store pickles in a cool, dark place. If your pickles are stored somewhere warm, they could start to ferment in their jars. These are still edible, and sometimes even more delicious, so don't be afraid if a pickle starts to bubble and fizz over when opened. Just store it in the fridge thereafter.
Cloudy white sediment that resembles mould is also perfectly fine. This is usually iodine, which results from using table salt. For this reason, I prefer to use pure sea salt for pickling. Table salt can also develop yeasts, which will encourage fermentation.
- Click here for Kylee's chocolate and pickled pear frangipane tart with citrus crème fraîche recipe.
- Click here for Kylee's chocolate mousse with sweet pickled raspberries recipe.
Edited extract from The Modern Preserver's Kitchen: Cooking with Jam, Chutney, Pickles and Ferments by Kylee Newton, photography by Laura Edwards. Published by Quadrille, RRP $49.99. Available in stores nationally.
