Pickling spice
PIK-ling spys
Also called mixed pickling spice.
Warm, pungent, sweetly aromatic, sharp.
Pickling spice is a whole-spice mixture sold for the brine rather than the plate, and no two jars of it agree. Line up three blends from established spice merchants and seven spices turn up in all of them: mustard seed, cinnamon, allspice, bay, clove, ginger, and dried chile. Coriander, black pepper, mace, cardamom, and dill seed each appear in two of the three. After that it is house choice: celery seed, caraway, juniper, or star anise depending on who mixed it. What the mixes share is a warm, sweetly aromatic backbone with enough pungency to carry through vinegar. It goes into cucumber and beet brines, spiced fruit, and the pot with corned beef, and it stays whole the entire way, because ground spice clouds the liquid and darkens what is sitting in it.
Similar but different
Easy to mix up, different enough that swapping changes the dish.
- Crab boil seasoningsavory, celery-forward, peppery, briny.
- Quatre epicespeppery, warm, sweet, aromatic.
- Mulling spicewarm, sweet, citrusy, gently pungent.
What it pairs with
Goes wrong with: dishes that want one clean spice note, anything you cannot fish the whole spices back out of.
Common in American cooking.
Whole vs ground
Whole, always. Pickling spice is one of the few blends never sold ground, because powdered spice can darken the finished pickle and cloud the brine it is sitting in. Buy it whole, keep it whole, and do not be tempted to grind a spoonful for a rub.
How to handle it
Tie the spices loosely in a cheesecloth bag or drop them in a tea ball, simmer that in the pickling liquid, then lift it out before the jars are filled so nobody bites down on a clove. If you want the look, move a cinnamon stick or a bay leaf from the bag into each jar. A tablespoon of the mix to three to five pounds of cucumbers, or to roughly two and a half cups of vinegar, is the dose the producers themselves suggest.
Storage
Airtight, dark, and cool. Whole seed and bark hold their punch far longer than anything ground, but heat and humidity strip them fast, which makes the cupboard above the stove the worst shelf in the kitchen. Buy the amount you will actually use inside a year.
Buying note
Read the label, because the name promises more agreement than there is. One brand leads with mustard seed and another opens on cinnamon, and the longest mix runs to fourteen spices while the shortest stops at ten. Look for whole unbroken seed and intact bay rather than dust in the bottom of the jar, and check whether the mix carries a sulfiting agent, since some do and some do not.
What's in it
- Mustard seed·the constant, in all three blends checked
- Allspice·warm sweetness, also in all three
- Bay leaf·the herbal edge, also in all three
- Ginger·clean heat, also in all three
- Cayenne·the chile; labels say crushed red pepper, chili peppers, or simply chillies
- Cinnamon·or cassia, in all three
- Clove·pungent depth, in all three
- Coriander seed·citrus body; in two of the three
- Black pepper·bite, in two of the three
- Dill·the seed, not the fronds; in two of the three
- Mace·the lace around nutmeg, in the fuller blends
- Green cardamom·floral lift, in the fuller blends
- Celery seed·a house choice, savory and bitter
- Caraway·a house choice, leans toward rye bread
- Juniper·a house choice, resinous and gin-like
- Star anise·a house choice, sweet licorice
Classic dishes
bread and butter pickles, corned beef, pickled beets, spiced peaches.
Out of pickling spice? Substitutes
No substitute is exact. These are the closest by flavor behavior, with the ratio to start from and how the result will differ.
| Use instead | Ratio | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| whole mustard seed, allspice, coriander, a bay leaf, and a dried chile | about a tablespoon of the mix per two to three cups of brine | covers four of the seven every blend shares, misses the cinnamon, clove, and ginger |
| that mix plus a short cinnamon stick and a few whole cloves | to taste | closes most of the gap, though it leans closer to a mulling spice |
Ground is the one form pickling spice never comes in. Powder clouds the brine and darkens the pickles, so the mix stays whole and gets fished back out of the pot before the jars are filled.
Common questions
- What does pickling spice taste like?
- Pickling spice is warm, pungent, sweetly aromatic, sharp. Its overall intensity is strong.
- What can I use instead of pickling spice?
- The closest swaps are whole mustard seed, allspice, coriander, a bay leaf, and a dried chile (about a tablespoon of the mix per two to three cups of brine, covers four of the seven every blend shares, misses the cinnamon, clove, and ginger); that mix plus a short cinnamon stick and a few whole cloves (to taste, closes most of the gap, though it leans closer to a mulling spice). No substitute is exact, so taste and adjust.
- Should I buy pickling spice whole or ground?
- Whole, always. Pickling spice is one of the few blends never sold ground, because powdered spice can darken the finished pickle and cloud the brine it is sitting in. Buy it whole, keep it whole, and do not be tempted to grind a spoonful for a rub.
- How do you store pickling spice?
- Airtight, dark, and cool. Whole seed and bark hold their punch far longer than anything ground, but heat and humidity strip them fast, which makes the cupboard above the stove the worst shelf in the kitchen. Buy the amount you will actually use inside a year.
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