Pickling Made Easy

It’s been a breezy summer day and I can’t help but get transported back to when I used to set up the little paddling pool in the backyard for the children when they were young.

Initially it was just for the five little ones to cool down, but I always joined in because I couldn’t resist (and it was just plain hot!)

Dinners were always easy on those days, a lovely salad sandwich and lentil patties with homemade piccalilli.

That got me thinking about whether or not I still had the recipe, and after a quick search through the cupboards, I managed to dig it out.

Back in the day, I would do most of the preparation the night before and leave the veggies soaking overnight in salt.

Small quantities just wouldn’t last long enough with 5 rapidly growing children, so I would typically make around 9 kilos of chopped vegetables to use in the pickle.

The following day I would combine all the ingredients and scoop the piccalilli into sterilized glass jars.

Preserves always make great thank you gifts and are fun to dish out among your friends and family.

For those of you who want to try making your own pickle at home, I’ve included my homemade recipe below:

• 1kg chopped mixed vegetables (cauliflower, onions, green beans, broccoli, capsicum red or green)
• 8g each of ground tumeric, ground ginger and mustard seed
• a few cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 long green chilli (you can also use ¼ tsp of chilli powder)
• salt
• 600ml cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp wholemeal flour
• 80g sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Sprinkle the chopped vegetables liberally with salt. Cover and leave for 24 hours. Rinse well and put in a pot with ¾ part of cider vinegar and the chopped chilli, garlic and 1 tsp salt. Cover and simmer until barely tender. In the meantime mix the remaining cider vinegar with the spices, sugar and flour. Add this to the vegetables when almost cooked. Cook for a few minutes more until thickened. Pour into sterile preserving jars. Cool and seal. Add more sugar if you want a sweeter pickle.

Happy pickling!

— Miranda