Christmas piccalilli recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Christmas, Jam Jelly and Preserves | 51 comments
Photo: Piccalilli
For years I was tempted by the cheap jars of yellow piccalilli on the supermarket shelves. I’d take one head clearing taste and the jar would be put smartly at the back of the cupboard to wait until it was swept away in a hearty Spring clean.
Last year we tasted Magic Cochin’s homemade piccalilli. It was everything that I’d imagined piccalilli could be and more. It is so good that they are only allowed a jar a month to salve that certain piccalilli yearning. And I’m ashamed to say I had two helpings from the January jar.
This year I just had to make my own using our own home grown vegetables. In fact I made three batches as it was so good. So we are rationed 3 jars a month until next summer. My inspiration came from Oded Schwartz recipe for Chow Chow which I’ve tweaked to suit our taste. I added much more turmeric as both our brains and bodies could do with a bit of coddling.
You can use almost any crisp vegetable that you like. Choose a selection of colours to make the piccalilli attractive. Try and chop the vegetables into an assortment of shapes and sizes. It takes about a month to mature so make it soon and it will be ready to serve with cold meats and cheese at Christmas.
Christmas piccalilli recipe
Ingredients:
50g of calabrese florets (broccoli)
250g of green tomatoes (or hard red ones) chopped
300g of cucumbers sliced lengthwise and then sliced into half centimetre half moons
250g of French beans topped and tailed and chopped in half (if you are making this in summer – use your own fresh runner beans)
225g of courgettes chopped
1500g of cauliflower florets
320g of carrots chopped
1 head of celery (destring and slice)
2 red Romano peppers (deseed and chop into 3 cm lengths)
300g of small pickling or baby onions or shallots (skinned and cut in half if they are chunky
100g of salt
Spicy pickling mixture:
375g of light soft brown sugar
1.5 litres of cider vinegar
80g of mustard powder
1 tsp of celery salt
2 teaspoons of mustard seeds
3 tablespoons of turmeric powder
120g of plain flour
Method:
Wash and prepare all the vegetables. Put them in a large bowl. Sprinkle on the salt cover the vegetables with cold water and mix everything well to dissolve the salt. Weigh down the vegetables using a plate and leave to stand over night.
The next day drain the vegetables and rinse quickly. Then blanch them for two minutes in boiling water in batches I – used a sieve for this stage. Plunging them immediately into cold water after blanching so they stayed crisp. Leave them to drain while you make the pickling mixture.
Mix the mustard powder, turmeric, celery salt and flour together and gradually add some vinegar (about 300ml) to make a thin paste.
Put the rest of the vinegar into a non reactive saucepan and add the sugar. Bring slowly to the boil stirring to dissolve the sugar. When this is done add the paste a little at a time to the vinegar and sugar. You should end up with a thickened spicy sauce – if it’s bobbly blend with a stick blender.
When you are happy with your sauce, put in the vegetables and the mustard seeds and return to the boil and immediately take the saucepan off the heat.
Bottle in hot sterilised jars with plastic lined metal lids. Don’t use cellophane as the vinegar will absorb through these.
Leave for a month to mature in a dry, dark place.
Leave a reply
hi there
I cannot find mustard powder anywhere here in france; though after a very long search I found tumeric.
Can I replace it with eg; dijon mustard as I have done in some other recipes I make. If so can anyone recommend quantities..
failing that would anyone be willing to send me some ?!! 🙂
thanks in advance for your help
shelley
Hi MC
Can’t wait for you to taste my piccalilli at the grand annual pickled walnut challenge 🙂
Hi Jane S
It means not an aliminium pan. Stainless steel is fine.
Hi Fiona,
Forgive my ignorance but in the recipe, when you say a non reactive pan,is stainless steel suitable?
Jane S.
Hi Heather
we use cornflour – it might even be superior to Fiona’s recipe 😉
C
could you use cornflour for glutein intolerant piccalilli lovers?
I don’t see why not. If you try using it I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Hi Steel
It’s scrummy with cheese on toast but watch out it’s very moreish.
Hi Aime R
In the UK we don’t tend to hot water bath pickles as the sugar and vinegar are preservatives.
Hot water bathing would not spoil the pickle – I reckon that it would be a bit less crunchy.
Hi Magic Cochin
Thanks for introducing me to the delights of home made piccalilli 🙂
Hi Katie
About eight 1lb jars. I fill jars of all shapes and sizes and generally get about 11 jars.
Hi Fiona,
Looks like a great recipe – just wondered what the yield the recipe makes.
Thanks
Kate
Three jars a month – what luxury! I’ve just checked and we have 6 jars of this year’s Piccalilli in the larder, so it’s still rationed. I think this makes it even more special 😉
The thing is, once you’ve had home made Piccalilli, the bought stuff doesn’t come near to the mark.
Well done F & D!
Celia
I suppose I’m over sensitive about preserving (maybe it’s a North American thing?), but I would think it best to boiling water bath process the results. Check out the USDA’s National Center for Home Food Preservation site; they’ve got a piccalilli recipe with processing guidelines. It’s a great resource for preserving.
Thanks for the recipes!
Thanks for the recipe!I’ve never made it before but would like to have a go.
I remember my grandmother serving up her homemade piccalilli with ploughmans lunches, but being very young I couldn’t get on with the taste. Maybe now I’m a lot older I might appreciate the flavour!