3 Substitutes For Pickling Lime! (Must Know It)

Last updated on October 26th, 2022 at 05:19 pm

A sure way to preserve vegetables is by making their pickles. Yet, other substances can pickle your food items. The commonest substance to use is pickling lime. 

You can choose from a variety of other substitutes to pickle your foods. This article will highlight other substances you can use to pickle your foods. 

There are three substitutes for pickling your food aside from pickling lime. These substitutes are calcium chloride, sorbic acid, nitrates, and nitrites. These substitutes are safe and do not harm you or your foods. You can use this substitute to preserve your food if you cannot find pickling lime.

3 Best Substitutes For Pickling Lime

Three other substitutes are best for the food preservation of foods in your kitchen.

These substitutes produce the same effect as pickling lime and are safe for your health.

These substitutes include;

• Calcium Chloride

• Sorbic Acid

• Nitrates 

•  Nitrites

#1. Calcium Chloride

It’s an inorganic salt with a white crystalline appearance. This substance is solid at room temperature and dissolves easily in water.

Calcium chloride is commonly used as a substitute for pickling foods. You can apply calcium chloride to pickle your vegetable and preserve fruit juices.

Calcium chloride is an advantage as a substitute for pickling lime because it is odorless.

It can mix with your foods without being noticed by any smell at all. Calcium chloride has a salty taste which You can easily recognize.

Although salty, calcium chloride adds to the saltiness of foods without adding the amount of sodium to your body.

This fact is very important because it assures you of the health benefits of calcium chloride.

When the sodium content in food increases, it becomes unsafe when considering the health hazards.

In stores, you can buy calcium chloride as a pickle crisp. It improves the texture of pickled vegetables but does not restore lost crispness in wilting or dried vegetables.

Calcium chloride is safe and simple to use. All you need to do is apply it to the jars where you want to store the foods.

Ensure you apply this substance in small amounts to prevent toxicity.

#2. Sorbic Acid

Sorbic acid is a natural preservative that occurs as an organic fatty acid. The substance used as a preservative is the salt of the compound.

Sorbic acids possess a white crystalline and have a low solubility constant.

Sorbic acid is tasteless and odorless. This attribute makes it a good substitute for pickling lime. 

Sorbic acid does not affect the taste or appearance of the food you preserve. It can easily blend with your foods without being detected.

Sorbic acids are generally safe to consume. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they possess antimicrobial attributes.

Sorbic acid is a flavored preservative making it a choice substitute. It can be applied to foods by either spraying or dipping them in the substance.

To achieve maximum results, you should dissolve sorbic acid in water and dip the foods in the solution. This solution can be used again or discarded after the first use.

#3. Nitrates

This substance is an inorganic compound with a wide range of uses. This substance does not stand alone as it consists of salts that have many atoms.

You can use Nitrates to preserve foods. You can apply nitrates to your foods in place of pickling lime.

Nitrates naturally occur in foods like beets, celery, lettuce, and radish. Using nitrates can prolong your vegetables’ lifespan when you apply them.

Although nitrates naturally occur in the body, they pose some dangers to your health. When cooked at high temperatures, they produce some carcinogenic substances.

Aside from preserving foods, nitrates also help to lower blood pressure and improve performance. Ensure you have a minimal intake.

Where Do I Get Pickling Lime?

You can get your pickling lime from any store near you. Pickling lime is widely circulated in stores where household products are sold.

You can find pickling lime in the home kitchen section of most stores. You may also find them at a grocery store.

Aside from finding them in stores, you can also order pickling lime online. Many online stores sell pickling lime.

You can find pickling lime in packs or bottles on the shelf in the grocery store. The grocery store’s produce section is the most obvious place to look.

You can also find pickling lime in the beverage section of some stores. Some stores keep the pickling lime along with beverages and lime juices.

Can I Use Pickling Salt Instead of Pickling Lime?

You can use pickling salt instead of pickling lime. It may not be a suitable alternative, but You can use it anyways.

Although pickling salt is a completely different chemical substance in view.

Pickling salt is also known as canning salt or preserving salt. This substance is a white crystalline substance made of sodium chloride.

You can say that the pickling salt can pass as table salt since they have the same chemical constituent. The difference is that table salt contains iodine and an anticaking agent.

Pickling salt is a preservative to keep vegetables and other foods fresh. With great care, you can use pickling salt instead of pickling lime. 

Pickling salt can preserve your vegetables but will not maintain their crispy texture.

You can store your vegetables in cans and containers and still enjoy them after a long period.

There are other more preferred substitutes to pickling lime. These substitutes bear the same activity as the pickling lime and are safer alternatives.

Pickling salt adds to the saltiness of the foods you preserve in them. It is normal table salt without the anti-caking ingredient and iodine. 

The other substitutes of the pickling lime keep preserved vegetables both fresh and crispy. Adding some salt may not be a safe alternative. 

Pickling salt finds other uses in the kitchen. You can spray over snacks and appetizers before serving your guests.

You can also spray them on your French fries. You can also use pickle salts instead of table salts in your kitchen.

You should consider the quantity you use carefully because pickle salts produce more saltiness than normal salt.

Pickle salt is saltier than an equal quantity of table salt because pickle salt has a less coarse texture than table salt. 

Salts with fine grains dissolve more easily in solutions than salts with coarse grains.

Is Pickling Lime the Same as Calcium Hydroxide?

Pickling lime is the same as calcium hydroxide. Calcium hydroxide is a technical name for picking lime by naming its constituents.

Although putting together calcium and the hydroxide ion does not technically produce pickling lime.

The pickling lime is edible, and storekeepers mostly call it food-grade calcium hydroxide.

Adding calcium hydroxide to foods will produce the same effect as pickling lime.

The only difference is that calcium hydroxide can make you sick in its unprocessed form. 

Calcium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with a white crystalline appearance. It is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. 

Manufacturers of pickling lime make food-grade lime from calcium hydroxide by passing raw hydrated lime through good steam. 

The first coarse steam goes through a grinder to produce a crude product.

This process is a food processing and purification activity to make calcium hydroxide safe for preserving foods. 

How Does Pickling Lime Differ From Garden Lime?

A basic difference between garden lime and pickling lime is in the chemical composition of the substances.

Garden lime is calcium carbonate, while pickling lime is calcium hydroxide.

The chemical composition forms the fundamental difference between them. Every other property of the garden salt revolves around these differences.

Pickling lime is much more alkaline than garden lime. This property makes it impossible for garden lime to substitute pickling lime.

You can use pickling lime to preserve and pickle foods. This function makes them edible or at least not harmful to health when consumed.

Garden lime is a substance that gardeners use to make the soil suitable for planting.

You can add garden soil to adjust the chemical composition of your soil to suit what you want to grow. Pickling lime can be obtained from making calcium chloride food grade.

Garden lime is sourced naturally by grounding limestones and rocks rich in calcium carbonate.

Here is a glance through some of the differences between pickling and garden lime.

Properties	Pickling Lime	Garden Lime
Chemical Composition	Calcium hydroxide	Calcium carbonate
Alkalinity	More alkaline	Less alkaline
Uses	Used to preserve food and pickled vegetables.	Used in gardens to adjust soil content
Sources	Converting calcium hydroxide to food grade.	I am grounding limestone and rocks.
Colors	Fine Crystalline white.	Coarse crystalline white.
Other names	Slaked lime, hydrated lime.	Dolomitic lime

Final Thoughts

Three substances can substitute for the use of pickling lime. These substances include calcium chloride, sorbic acid, and nitrates.

They differ in their ability to keep your foods pickled and their health benefits. You can purchase Pickling lime from grocery stores or beverage stores. 

Pickling salts cannot be used in place of pickling lime even though it preserves foods.