Christmas piccalilli recipe
Comments(40)
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.
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FD
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!
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!
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
Hi Fiona,
Looks like a great recipe – just wondered what the yield the recipe makes.
Thanks
Kate
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.
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 Heather
we use cornflour – it might even be superior to Fiona’s recipe
C
Hi Fiona,
Forgive my ignorance but in the recipe, when you say a non reactive pan,is stainless steel suitable?
Jane S.
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 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
Thank you! I was attracted here by your chutney recipes and now I find this too. It is so difficult to find English chutneys and piccalilli here in Canada. (The US “version” of piccalilli contains mostly cabbage and sounds terrible.) True, we do have a different approach here with respect to canning/bottling (i.e. boiling water bath EVERYTHING you put in a jar) but to each his own.
Hi Shelley
I’m not sure whether it would work with Dijon mustard. I’d be happy to post you some. Send address via the contact us tab.
Hi Lisa
Great that you have found what you wanted
Nice! Am afraid to say i always follow Mrs B. She has it in the bag!
Hi Nick
I must check out Mrs B. Thanks for the nudge.
BTW you have a wonderful blog.
hi all;
I made this as soon as the kind gift of mustard powder arrived; Today I took some to work,as sales were not exactly high and I needed to offer a taster session.
I now have several converts ; all of whom are raving about ‘my’ delicious picalilli;
THANK YOU Fiona!
Hello Shelley
That’s great news. We love it too – in fact I’m going to make cheese on toast with picalilli for brunch.
I make piccalilli without brining the vegetables and I get FAB results getting crispy and tasty Piccalilli as a result
Hi Vx
Ours is crunchy too!
summer here in New Zealand. Glut of cauliflower,beans and red onions so am about to try your recipe. Will try the flour but will use cornflour in next batch. Judi
I’ve just come across this recipe and it certainly looks good. However, you don’t really mean 1500g of cauliflower do you?
I made this this morning. As hinted at in the recipe, I had a few lumps of the mustard and flour mixture, so I used an electric hand whisk to blend them up. Then I had to open all the windows to breath again – wow that’s some spicy chutney! Can’t wait to try it now, will have to force myself to wait a month
I’ve been doing a lot of pickling and preserving recently, but didn’t have a good piccalilli recipe, so thank you. There was a little bit left over once I’d filled all the jars, so I couldn’t resist trying it once it had cooled. Very good indeed, even in its fresh state – tangy, spicy and crunchy. Looking forward to trying the rest once it’s had a month or so to mature
Just wanted to say a belated thank you: this was the recipe that brought me to Cottage Smallholder after a quick google. I made it early december, and have managed to resist opening it until now so that it could mature and mellow. Lovely stuff!
Hello GG
I love this too. Just finished the last jar from last year so will have to make some asap! Need more onions in the next batch as they are the best. You are doing good stuff on twitter
I’ll have to make some more too – I’ve given most of it away; note to self, must put it into smaller jars next time. Re the twitter stuff; just flailing away blindly not knowing quite what I’m doing, trying to promote the blog…
looking for Magic Cochin Piccalilli recipe please.
Can I make piccalli without using flour or thickener of any kind and with half the suagar?
Please send me Magic Cochin’s piccalilli recipe. Also can you make these recipes with out using any thickener and very little sugar?
I am very keen to try this out – is this a tart piccallili? I find the ones sold in NZ are very sweet and I am longing for the “real” thing … well how I remember it anyway
new to pickling…do I put lids on whilst pickle is hot or when it’s gone cool? Recipe looks good
Hi Marilyn
Always pot this up hot to create a good seal. Thanks for the nudge – I must get some piccalili made soon!
I think I finally found the piccalilli recipe I’d like to try! there are several on the internet, but I got the feeling this is a good one!
I live in Austria, Vienna, and I hope I’ll find everything I need.
Is that a special mustard powder you use?
Looking forward to trying it these days! Or even tomorrow?!
Candice
Hiya! Is this a hot piccalilli as in ‘spicy’ hot. If so, would it help tp leave out the mustard seeds? Also…1500g of cauliflower! That seems like a lot? Thankyou.
This piccalilli is not hot just piquant. The amount of cauliflower is correct
Keep in the mustard seeds they add to the texture.
Hi, I Live in Spain now, and am finding it difficult to purchase shallots, can you use normal onions or would red onion be better.
Would appreciate any thoughts please.
Gill
Hi Gill
I reckon that red onions would be better as they are milder and sweeter.
This was the first recipe I had tried of The Cottage Smallholder, which has lead to a whole new way of life. I go through the supermarkets looking for the reduced fruit and veg bring it home and then look on here to see what I can do with it!! last night I got mango’s 2 for 69p and two trays of blackberries for 59p each, already had some cooking apples so today its mango chutney and apple and blackberry jam, ironing and housework put on hold as there are so many recipes to work through, but its not really work is it!!!!
Hi Bonbonz69
Thank you so much for such a heartening comment. Delighted that you are enjoying the site!
Hi,
I’m new to preserving/pickling, and I’m wondering if using metal lids lined with wax discs would be ok for this recipe?
It sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try making it!
Hi Laura
Metal lids that have a plastic lining are fine – I’d avoid unlined metal lids though.