Pink pickled turnips
The vivid pink batons that are an inseparable part of Levantine falafel and shawarma — in Arabic kabis lift, pickled turnips. The turnip itself is white; all the colour comes from a single small raw beetroot, sliced and laid at the bottom of the jar. Over five days the colour penetrates the turnip right through. The key is the brine ratio: three parts water to one of vinegar — stronger gives sour, soft turnips, weaker does not preserve.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Cutting 15 min
- Brine 5 min
- Pickling 7200 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneChoose young, firm turnips
Choose turnips firm and heavy for their size, 6–8 cm across. Large, old ones can be fibrous and hollow and go soft once pickled. Young turnips stay crunchy for weeks.
Ingredients: 700 g white turnips · 1 pcs raw beetroot · 3 cloves garlic
Cut the turnips into thick batons
Peel the turnips and cut into batons the thickness of a finger and 6 cm long. Thick batons keep their crunch; thin slices turn soft and rubbery in vinegar within days.
Ingredients: 700 g white turnips · 1 pcs raw beetroot · 3 cloves garlic
Finger thick — thin ones go rubbery in vinegar.Slice the beetroot
Peel the beetroot and cut into 3–4 thick slices. One small beetroot is enough for a jar — it is a dye, not an ingredient. More beetroot gives dark maroon turnips with a noticeable beet flavour.
Ingredients: 700 g white turnips · 1 pcs raw beetroot · 3 cloves garlic
Pack the jar with beetroot at the bottom
Lay the beetroot slices and garlic at the bottom of a sterilised jar and stand the turnip batons tightly on top. Beetroot at the bottom colours the brine, which gradually tints the turnips from bottom to top.
Ingredients: 700 g white turnips · 1 pcs raw beetroot · 3 cloves garlic
Beetroot at the bottom — it colours all from below.Make the brine
Warm the water with the salt, sugar, bay and chilli just until the salt dissolves, take off the heat and add the vinegar. The three-to-one ratio matters: a compromise between keeping and crunch.
Ingredients: 600 ml water · 200 ml white vinegar · 2 tbsp non-iodised salt · 1 tsp sugar · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1 pcs dried chilli
Pour over lukewarm brine
Pour lukewarm, not hot, brine over the turnips, covering them completely. Hot brine part-cooks them and takes away their crunch. Turnips standing above the brine go mouldy.
Ingredients: 600 ml water · 200 ml white vinegar · 2 tbsp non-iodised salt · 1 tsp sugar · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1 pcs dried chilli
Pickle five days at room temperature
Seal the jar and leave 5 days at room temperature, out of the sun. Turn the jar upside down and back once a day so the colour spreads evenly.
Ingredients: 600 ml water · 200 ml white vinegar · 2 tbsp non-iodised salt · 1 tsp sugar · 1 pcs bay leaf · 1 pcs dried chilli
Check the colour and refrigerate
They are ready when bright pink right through, not just outside — cut a baton to check. Then move the jar to the fridge. Serve with falafel, shawarma or as meze.
Ingredients: 700 g white turnips · 1 pcs raw beetroot · 3 cloves garlic
Pink right through — cut a baton to check.
Before you start
Turnip, not radish
Lift is made from white turnip, mild and faintly sweet. White radish gives a similar result but sharper, with a noticeable sulphurous note after a few days. Turnip lasts longer — crunchy for a month.
The smell on opening
Turnip in brine gives off sulphur compounds and the jar smells strongly when opened. That is normal and does not mean spoilage. The smell fades within minutes and the flavour is clean and sour.
A month in the fridge
Once pickled they keep a month in the fridge, always fully submerged. Take them out with a clean fork. Do not reuse the brine for another batch — it is diluted by the turnip juices and preserves less reliably; give a new batch fresh brine.