Friday 25 September 2015

Piccalilli

One of the things I like about making piccalilli is the quickness. You don't need to spend hours looking after it, inhaling the fumes as you go. By 9:30 this morning, I had made it. The vegetables were prepared and salt added (the vegetables were tossed a couple of times in the evening) before being left in a pot bowl overnight:
This year I am using carrots, peppers, green tomatoes, onion, radish, beans and cauliflower. This morning, they were drained and thoroughly rinsed and left to drain.

All the spice ingredients were carefully weighed:
Then stirred together with enough of the vinegar to make a paste. The rest of the vinegar, sugar and honey were added to my stainless steel preserving pan and brought to a simmer until everything was melted.

The paste was added and the sauce boiled quickly whilst stirring, to thicken it and release the flavours of the spices (nearly forgot my whole mustard seeds! - doh). The drained vegetables were added to the sauce, given a good stir and cooked just for a couple of minutes before being put into hot sterilised jars:
Some of these will be given for Christmas presents, the rest will be for us. I may or may not make some more, as we love it.

Now the wait begins as it has to mature for 6 weeks before use.

The recipe can be found under my recipes tab above. Have a lovely weekend everyone!


8 comments:

  1. You have been industrious, and so early in the morning!

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    1. Needed to start early as the vegetables had been salted a little too long. Must remember, salt no more than 12 hours!

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  2. Thanks for that. I'm going to have another go. Last time, it was overcooked and pretty awful if I'm honest. So, only cook the veg for a couple of minutes...

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    1. I salted my vegetables a little too early so they are softer than I would like but still should be good. I boil the sauce for a couple of minutes, put in the vegetables, stir, bring back to boil (gently not furiously), then give them 2 minutes only.

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  3. I wish I liked piccalilli but I don't. I haven't tasted it in years so it may be good to make some and see. I should ask the family and see who does like it as it would be a lovely little present to go in my Christmas hamper.

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    1. Home made is a different animal to bought. Also you can adapt to suit your tastes.

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  4. Just about to comment when I read Frugal In Essex's words above! They reflect y own feelings. I LOVE your photos, and I love to cook for the storage shelf, but I can't make myself like piccalilli. Whether that's because I disliked it out of the shop-bought jar as a child and haven't been able to bring myself to try it since, I don't know. I'm sure home-made is heaps better, but making a batch on the off-chance I may have changed my mind isn't something I want to do. I have made chutney this week though….

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    1. DB hates cauliflower but will eat it in this. We can't all like it, same as Marmite! I love it as does DS but DB and DDiL hate it:)

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