Here’s an old fashioned sweet pickles recipe from my family’s kitchen but with a savory twist! This curry sweet pickles recipe is an easy recipe for beginner canners!
If you’re new to canning and need some basic information to get started, we have a canning tutorial post that can help. The article covers both water bath and pressure canning, as well as the equipment needed to start preserving food this way. For pickles, you will need a water bath canner, FYI.
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Uses for Curry Sweet Pickles
If you’re a fan of sweet pickles or bread and butter pickles, then you’ll love these curry sweet pickles! The truth is, curry pickles can blend well into tuna mixes, Thousand Island dressing and deviled eggs just like any pickle. However, you might want to consider including them:
- as a topping for traditional Indian dishes like dahl, curries and stuffed into chapatis
- paired with fermented foods like cultured cream and sauerkraut
- on Charcuterie boards with cold cuts and fruit
- laid on fresh bread with even fresher feta cheese
You could also simply eat these curry pickles because it’s your birthday or picnic day or Wednesday!
Pickles are a delight. As Meera Sodah writes in my favorite of her Indian cookbooks, Made in India,
“Pickling is believed to have started in India around 4,000 years ago as a way of preserving perishable food. In many parts of India..where locals rely on seasonality, pickling is still a fiercely popular activity. Many, however – my self included – just pickle for pleasure.”
Incidentally, I highly recommend Made in India to anyone interested in learning to cook authentic Indian food. The recipes are entirely accessible for someone who didn’t have the good luck to be raised cooking Indian food. Meera’s prose is engaging and her food is pure joy. Plus, the pictures are exquisite!
Curry Sweet Pickles Canning Recipe
Pickles are about the easiest thing on God’s green earth to preserve and you can easily make this recipe even if you’re new to canning. The combination of sweet pickle flavor with the richness of curry will make this a favorite recipe for your family.
Curry Sweet Pickle Canning Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 lbs. of Pickling Cucumbers
- 3 lbs. of Sweet Onions, finely sliced
- 1/2 Cup Sea Salt, for overnight brine
- 4 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
- 4 Cups Raw Sugar
- 2 Tbsp. Mustard Seed
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Celery Seed
- 1 tsp. Curry Spice, or Plain Turmeric*
- 1 1/2 tsp. Whole Cloves
- 1 1/2 tsp. Whole Peppercorns, optional
Instructions
- Wash and sterilize 12 pint jars with lids and rings.
- Wash the pickles thoroughly but gently to remove all dirt. Trim the bottoms and tops and be sure to remove any trace of cucumber blossoms.
- Thinly slice the onions.
- Place the cucumbers and sliced onions into a large, non-reactive bowl and sprinkle with the sea salt. Mix thoroughly by hand until the salt is mixed in and begins to dissolve. Cover with a few inches of ice and a damp towel. Leave overnight in a cool place.
- In the morning, dump the cucumbers and onions and rinse them to remove the salt. Set aside.
- Make the syrup to fill the jars by combining the vinegar and sugar. Dissolve the sugar over medium/high heat. Add the mustard seeds, celery seeds, curry, cloves and peppercorns among the jars.
- Add the cucumbers and onions to the syrup to heat them thoroughly by bringing the mixture to a boil.
- Pack the jars firmly with the cucumber and onion mixture. Once firmly packed, fill the jars to 1/2" below the rims with the syrup mixture.
- Process jars in a water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars to to a kitchen towel without touching the lids overnight.
- Wait at least a month before you open a jar of the curry pickles to give them enough time sit in the syrup.
Notes
*Chances are you're reading this recipe because you like that robust curry flavor. If not, you can use plain turmeric for it's spicy flavor and beautiful color.
Always follow the instructions for your canner or guidelines that can be found at National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Other Pickled Recipes You Might Enjoy
Remember that experimentation is one of the joys of canning and pickling is a safe way to try new flavors. Here are some other recipes you might like to make.
These sound delicious! I love curry and I love pickles, so wow! I can’t wait to try them!
They go well with practically anything and I hope you enjoy them!
I love pickles but never made them with curry. Can’t wait to try this recipe, thanks
I hope you enjoy them!
Hi, I feel like I’m going crazy because I’ve ready this recipe five times now and can’t actually see at what part you are meant to add the curry seasoning. Help?
That happens to me all. the. time. No worries, it’s right there under the celery seed – 1 tsp curry spice, or plain turmeric. You can add more or both – basically adjust for taste.
Did that help? Let me know if not and I’ll see what I can do. I hope you like them!
Ahhh thank you!! I knew it was my brain deceiving me. Onward to making curry pickles tonight!!
So glad – I hope you love them! Be sure to let them sit for at least a few months before you break into a jar so they can develop full flavor. Let me know how it turns out, if you remember!
I feel the same. Where in the instructions do I add the curry? To the syrup? To each jar? It isn’t clear…
You pop it right in there with the celery seed and all the other spices in the syrup. You have to stir it in really well, but once it binds with the sugar it will integrate well. I hope you enjoy them!
We just made our batches for this year – we usually run out way before the next season’s pickling cucumbers are ready. No matter how many I make, it’s never enough!
I’ve actually made this recipe before, but now I can’t remember if the quantities you have listed for the spices in each jar (curry, celery seed, cloves, peppercorn) are for EACH jar, or do we distribute that much across all of the jars. I just prepared my jars and added those quantities to each jar and it seems like a lot but spreading that amount out across all jars doesn’t seem like enough.
Ha – no worries! The quantities are for the whole batch of vinegar BUT you can adjust to taste. I wrote the recipe as a baseline with it not being too strong. However, when I make it, I increase the spices because we like it stronger. Was that not helpful at all? 🙂
I’m diabetic, but would love to have sweet pickles/relish. Do you think this could be made with a 1:1 sugar substitute that is diabetic/ low/no carb friendly ? Like either Bocha Sweet or Allulose?
Thank you. Guess I COULD make a half batch and see…..
Yes and no. You can safely make a batch of refrigerator pickles with any of the sugar substitutes you use. If you want to can them, do some research into what is currently considered safe per national canning standards. Last I knew, stevia is approved for canning – possibly xylitol, too.
The thing is, safety isn’t the same as tasty! The intense heat of canning may or may not affect the flavor of alterative sugars. So, I would say, experiment with refrigerator pickles and then do some research into canning sweet pickles with alternative sugars.
Hope that helps?