Pickled Brussels Sprouts: Crunchy Low-Carb Frog Balls

Ingredients

Sprouts:

2 lbs Brussels sprouts about 1 inch across
1 gallon ice water for the bath

Brine:

2 cups white vinegar 5% acidity
2 cups water
2 tsp pickling salt or kosher salt

Per Pint Jar:

2 cloves garlic
1 whole bay leaf
½ tsp dill
½ tsp yellow mustard seed
½ tsp coriander seed
¼ tsp black peppercorns
¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Trim the sprouts. Cut a thin slice off each stem end and pull off any loose or yellow outer leaves. Halve anything much bigger than an inch. Even sizes pickle at the same rate.
Blanch for 2 to 3 minutes. Bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil and add the sprouts. Start the timer when the water comes back to a boil. That's enough time to take off the raw edge without cooking the core.
Ice bath right away. Move the sprouts straight into ice water for 10 minutes. The cooking stops right there. Skipping this step is the main reason pickled sprouts turn mushy.
Drain well. Extra water on the sprouts dilutes the brine. Let them sit in a colander while you make it.
Load the jars. Put the garlic, spices and bay leaf in the bottom of each clean pint jar. Pack the sprouts in tightly. They shrink a little once the brine hits them.
Boil the brine. Bring the vinegar, water and salt to a boil and stir until the salt dissolves. Add allulose now if you're using it. Hot brine pulls more flavor out of the whole spices.
Pour and cover. Fill each jar with brine to ½ inch below the rim. Every sprout needs to be under the liquid. Tap the jars on the counter to release trapped air.
Cool, cap, chill. Let the jars cool to room temperature, then lid them and refrigerate. They're good at 48 hours. They're at their best around day five to seven, once the brine reaches the center of each sprout.

Notes

Ingredient Notes

Vinegar. Use a vinegar labeled 5% acidity. Most white vinegar on the shelf is. Apple cider vinegar works and gives a fruitier, darker brine. Don't use a homemade vinegar with an unknown strength.

Salt. Pickling salt dissolves clear and has no anti-caking agents. Iodized table salt can cloud the brine and darken the garlic. If you use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, go to 3 Tbsp. The flakes are lighter by volume.

A sweeter brine. Some people like a sweet-sour pickle. Stir 1 Tbsp of allulose into the hot brine. It keeps the jar keto and won't crystallize in the fridge.

Garlic. Garlic sometimes turns blue or green in vinegar. It's a harmless reaction between its sulfur compounds and the acid. It looks strange and tastes the same.

Dill. Dill seed gives a stronger pickle flavor than dried dill weed. Fresh dill heads look best in the jar.

Heat. The red pepper flakes give a mild background warmth. For real heat, add a sliced jalapeño or half a habanero to each jar.

Nutrition