Alternatives to Dill Spices for Pickling
- To make your own spice mixture, one strategy is to take a standard recipe and simply omit the dill. Most mixtures include "warm" spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice or ginger, as well as more savory choices including black peppercorns, mustard seeds, bay leaves and coriander. Add flavors you like and take away those you don't until you find the right mixture. Keep notes so you'll know what went into each batch. Leave the spices whole or they'll make your pickle brine cloudy.
- An unusual but flavorful option is to pickle in mustard. The ingredients in prepared mustard are similar to those in pickles except for the large quantity of ground mustard seed. Essentially, the process turns your brine into mustard as you prepare the pickles. There are several variations on the theme, ranging from very mild to intensely spicy. Italians have a fine tradition of pickling fruit in mustard. Check through your oldest cookbooks for mustard-pickle recipes.
- Check your local library for cookbooks that write about traditional European foods. Many of the traditional recipes will look very familiar -- the classic kosher dill hails from Eastern Europe -- but others include less common ingredients, such as tarragon, caraway, anise and a wealth of other herbs, spices and aromatic vegetables. Try matching pickles and relishes with your favorite cuisines. Make Italian pickles to go with Italian foods, German pickles for German foods, and so on.
- Several Asian countries maintain strong traditions of making pickles, including Korea, China and Japan. Perhaps the most pickle-heavy cuisine of all is in India, where in most regions no meal is complete without a lavish variety of pickles and relishes. All of these countries spice their pickles in ways notably different from Western pickles. Look up recipes at the library or on the Internet and see what flavors are frequently combined. You may not want to make Asian-style pickles, but you'll probably find flavor combinations that appeal to you.
