I fancy pickling!

It’s ages since I made any pickles… I don’t mean chutney (although it’s a long time since I made any of that, and nobody in the family likes chutney…) but pickled vegetables… say for example… piccalilli… Yes, I fancy some, and I’ve found a new recipe using cider vinegar – I wonder if adding chopped dessert apples to the vegetable mix would be nice? And maybe some cloves?:

2 lbs mixed vegetables of your choice, cut into similar sized chunks – e.g cauliflower, carrots, runner beans (be careful that they are tender and haven’t got hard skins) courgettes, marrow… whatever you fancy!
2 large onions and 1 red pepper peeled and finely chopped
2 oz salt
6 oz sugar
¾ pint cider vinegar
2 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cornflour
tsp each of cumin and coriander seeds
2 extra tblsp cider vinegar

put the all the vegetables in a bowl, add salt, mix well and leave to stand for at least 1 hour. (the recipe says drain well, I would actually drain and then give a little rinse – I’ve sometimes ended up with very salty end product!)
mix the sugar, vinegar, mustard and turmeric and bring to the boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then take off the heat
mix the cornflour with the extra vinegar, make sure there are no lumps
stir the cornflour into spicy sugary vinegar, stirring well
return to the heat and cook for a couple of minutes
carefully fold in the diced, salted, rinsed vegetables
spoon into warm sterilised jars
leave for 4-6 weeks before opening and enjoying!

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