Pickled fruit facts for kids

Chanh muối, a type of pickled lime, aging in glass containers

Pickled fruit is fruit that has been preserved using a special method called pickling. Pickling helps food last longer by either letting it ferment (change chemically) in salty water called brine, or by soaking it in vinegar. Many different kinds of fruit can be pickled, like peaches, apples, pears, plums, grapes, and even olives. Sometimes, vinegar itself is made from fruit, like apple cider vinegar.

For thousands of years, people all over the world have used pickling to keep fruits and other foods from spoiling. There's proof that ancient civilizations in places like Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China pickled foods a very long time ago. The Mayan culture in America even used tobacco to help preserve foods, especially to make pickled peppers. In olden times, people used natural salt and water to make the brine. This allowed them to pickle foods that weren't easy to eat fresh, like olives.

What is Pickling?

Pickling is a cool way to preserve food. It's like giving food a long, healthy life! There are two main ways to pickle:

• Fermentation in Brine: This is when you soak food in salty water. Tiny living things (called anaerobic fermentation bacteria) work on the food. They create acids that keep bad germs away and give the food a unique, tangy flavor.
• Soaking in Vinegar: This method involves putting food directly into vinegar. Vinegar is acidic, and this acidity stops harmful bacteria from growing, keeping the food fresh for a long time.

Popular Pickled Fruits

Many fruits taste great when pickled. They can be sweet, tangy, or even a little spicy!

Peaches

Pickled peaches

Pickled peaches are often made from medium-sized peaches that are firm and have small seeds. Long ago in the United States, some were made from small, unripe peaches. To make them taste good, people add sweet spices like cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Sometimes, savory spices like peppercorns are used. Pickled peaches can be served with meats or added to salads.

Pears

Pickled pears are often called spiced pears. They are made with sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice to give them a delicious flavor. You can even pickle pears that aren't fully ripe yet. Pickled pears are a tasty side dish for roasted meats and salads.

Delicious Pickled peaches

Grapes

To pickle grapes, you need white wine vinegar, water, salt, sugar, garlic, rosemary, and dried chili flakes. The garlic and chili flakes give the grapes a really interesting and unique flavor!

Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe is a summer fruit, but you can pickle it to enjoy it all year long! To pickle cantaloupe, you might use champagne vinegar, hot water, sugar, ice, mustard seed, celery seed, Aleppo pepper, and a cinnamon stick.

Fruits That Can Be Pickled

A pickled pear (center of plate)

Umeboshi

Here's a list of many different fruits that people pickle around the world:

Pickling Around the World

Different countries have their own special ways of pickling fruits.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, some fruits are pickled when they are still unripe. These include belimbing, kedondong, chermai, lime, pineapple, papaya, mango, and nutmeg.

Mexico

In Mexico, there are two ways to talk about pickling. If food is pickled using vinegar, they say "escabechar" or "encurtir." If salt is the main ingredient for pickling, it's called "escabeche" or "salmuera."

In Mexico, people often make vinegar at home from fruits like pineapple and apple. They use this homemade vinegar to pickle fruits and vegetables. Pickled peppers are very popular in Mexico. Many different kinds of peppers are pickled both at home and by food companies. In some Mexican states, like Oaxaca and Puebla, people use homemade pineapple-vinegar or salty brine to pickle fruits like mangoes, quince (membrillos), and even some types of cactus. These pickled fruits are then used in traditional Mexican cooking.

Images for kids

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  Pickled lemons

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  Pickled watermelon.

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  Buai khem is Thai for "salted (Chinese) plums". They are prepared from Prunus mume (also known as "Chinese Plum" or "Japanese Apricot"), and are pickled, dried, and salted.

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  Pickled pimientos

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  Olives being pickled

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  Pickled mango

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  Jarred pickled peppers

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  Pickled tomatoes

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  Pickled apple along with other vegetables.