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Pickles & preserves Turkish / Eastern European

Pickled mushrooms

Small button mushrooms, blanched and steeped in a garlic and bay vinegar brine. A quick fridge pickle that's ready the next day.

Prep
20 min
Cook
15 min
Rest
1 day
Serves
6
Difficulty
Easy

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Small button mushrooms Small button mushrooms

Pickled mushrooms are a classic meze from the Black Sea coast through the Balkans to Russia; in Turkey they're known as mantar turşusu. This isn't a shelf-stable preserve but a quick fridge pickle: the mushrooms are ready the next day and soak up the garlic and bay over the following few days.

Put a bowl next to anything fried, grilled meatballs or a spread of meze, and their sharpness cuts right through the richness.

Servings 6

Ingredients

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Mushrooms

Brine (1 part vinegar : 1 part water)

Method

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  1. Wash a jar of about 750 ml and its lid in hot soapy water, rinse with boiling water and leave upside down on a clean tea towel to dry. Make sure the lid has no rust or cracks.

    ~5 min

  2. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth and trim a thin slice off the stalk ends. Leave walnut-sized ones whole and halve any larger ones so they all cook evenly.

    ~8 min

  3. Bring 1.5 litres of salted water to the boil, add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes once it's boiling again. Drain well in a colander; blanching draws out their water so it doesn't dilute the brine.

    ~8 min

  4. In another pan bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to the boil and turn off the heat once the salt and sugar have dissolved. Don't change the ratio: diluting the vinegar any further makes the pickle unsafe.

    ~5 min

  5. Put the garlic, bay, peppercorns and dill in the bottom of the jar and pack the warm mushrooms in snugly on top. Pour over the hot brine until the mushrooms are completely covered, tap the jar on the counter to release air bubbles and screw on the lid.

    ~5 min

  6. Let the jar cool at room temperature for no more than 1–2 hours, then put it straight in the fridge. It's ready to eat after 24 hours, but the flavour is at its best after 2–3 days.

    ~4 min

Enjoy!

The mushroom in this recipe

Small button mushrooms
Small button mushrooms Agaricus bisporus

About this species Grow it at home Fresh mushrooms

Mushroom swaps

  • Chestnut / cremini mushroom
    Chestnut / cremini mushroom Agaricus bisporusStays firmer and colours the brine slightly; halve any large ones.
  • Shiitake mushroom
    Shiitake mushroom Lentinula edodesDiscard the tough stems and halve or quarter the caps; the flavour is bolder.
  • King oyster mushroom
    King oyster mushroom Pleurotus eryngiiCut the stems into 1.5 cm rounds; they stay pleasantly crunchy.

Tips

  • Only use shop-bought or reliably sourced cultivated mushrooms; never pickle wild mushrooms you can't identify with certainty.
  • The brine is 1 part 5% vinegar to 1 part water. Add more sugar if you prefer it milder, but never more water.
  • To serve, toss with a splash of olive oil, finely sliced red onion and parsley.
  • If you like a little heat, add a dried chilli to the jar.

Storage

This is a fridge pickle: always keep it in the fridge (4 °C or below) and eat it within 2 weeks. Mushrooms are a low-acid food and this recipe is not acidic enough to be stored at room temperature or in the cupboard, where it carries a risk of botulism, so don't leave the jar out or try to keep it like a canned preserve. Use a clean fork to take mushrooms out, never your fingers. If the lid bulges, the brine turns cloudy or fizzy, you see mould or it smells off, throw it away without tasting.

Read our guide to storing mushrooms →

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Kitchen guides

Before you cook: clean, store, dry

How to clean mushroomsPractical ways to clean everything from button mushrooms to morels without waterlogging them or ruining their texture. How to store mushroomsHow to keep fresh, cooked, frozen and dried mushrooms at their best — and how to tell when they’ve gone bad. How to dry mushroomsA step-by-step guide to drying mushrooms at home in the oven, in a dehydrator or on a string — and how to store and rehydrate them.