There’s something to be said about foods which have a certain seasonality. Pigs in blankets, chocolate eggs, forced rhubarb in spring – their brevity is what makes them special. Others, however, deserve to be let out of their box. Yes you should have cake on your birthday – but you shouldn’t only have cake on your birthday. And while malt vinegar’s indelible association with seaside trips and greasy fingers is no doubt a huge part of its charm, it also feels like a waste to pigeonhole something so versatile. Read on to learn how to make the most of this delicious, classic condiment.

Yes, you can use malt vinegar for pickling. Distilled malt vinegar will better preserve the colour of your pickles, but both malt vinegar and distilled malt vinegar will work.

While this recipes focusses on classic dill pickles, these are far from the only vegetables which you can pickle. You can experiment and try this same recipe with all sorts of vegetables – like carrots cut into matchsticks, thinly sliced ribbons of courgettes, or quartered radishes. Mix up the herbs and spices to match each vegetable.

Although you wouldn’t know it from a quick glance at the average supermarket, there are actually lots of different varieties of cucumbers out there. You can get thick-skinned ones, thin-skinned ones, and even round lemon cucumbers.

For pickling, cucumbers with a thicker skin have a better crunch, so we’d recommend seeking out knobbly ridge cucumbers if you can find them. In America, kirby cucumbers are typically used for pickling, but these can be quite hard to find in the UK. However, you can increasingly find baby cucumbers, which although not the same as kirby cucumbers, can be pickled whole.

The short answer is no – while they’re both ways of preserving, and both result in something sour and salty, they’re not the same thing. 

The long answer is while both use acidity and salt to preserve ingredients, with ferments you don’t add any vinegar at the start. Instead, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in the ferment slowly convert sugars to vinegar over time, making the ferment sour, tangy and funky. Kimchi and sauerkraut are two popular examples of ferments.  

With pickles on the other hand, you add vinegar, salt and sugar at the start. The added vinegar does a similar job of, well, acidifying, but in a much shorter time and with a more ‘vinegary’ flavour profile.

Pickles are generally quicker to make than ferments, although the flavour of pickles will also change and mature over time.

There isn’t a one-size fits all approach to making pickles. Some recipes, like Darina Allen’s, are very sweet with equal parts sugar and vinegar. Others, like Alison Roman’s, only use a touch of sugar, and instead dilute the vinegar with water. Pam Corbin and Delia Smith both prefer to salt the cucumbers in advance, while Sohla El-Waylly pops them right in the jar. We found that Alison Roman's ratio of two parts water to one part vinegar, with just a touch of sugar, gives you the right amount of sourness.

Our recipe below is very simple and quick, and will give you crunchy, sour cucumber pickles in no time. It’s only lightly sweet, and has fresh dill for that classic dill pickle flavour. You can use distilled malt vinegar or regular malt vinegar, but the colour of the cucumbers will be darker with non-distilled malt vinegar.

These cucumber pickles will last in the fridge for at least a week. Always use a clean fork when getting them out the jar, to prevent contamination.

Pickled cucumbers are one of the most versatile pickles, delicious on pretty much any burger, sandwich or cracker you can think of. Enjoy the spears whole, or finely dice them and mix through egg mayo. They’re also nice roughly chopped and mixed into potato salad.