Making Traditional Piccalilli from a Garden Glut

A glut worth celebrating

Late summer on a smallholding has a rhythm all of its own. The cauliflower you set out in April has opened up and gone a little loose, the courgette bed is producing faster than any household can possibly eat, and the outdoor tomatoes are sulking, refusing to ripen before the first cold nights arrive. None of this is a problem. Put them together and you have piccalilli — the sharp, golden British pickle that has been lifting cold plates for generations.

Get it right and one afternoon's work fills a shelf with jars that will still be perfectly good this time next year. Get it wrong and you end up with a soft, sour mush. The difference comes down to three things: salt, vinegar strength, and resisting the urge to overcook the vegetables.

What to put in the jar

Aim for roughly 1kg of prepared vegetables, cut into pieces about the size of a broad bean. That size looks tidy on the plate and, more importantly, holds its crunch.

• Cauliflower — one small head, broken into small florets, with the stalk peeled and diced.
• Courgettes — two or three medium ones, peeled, halved, seeds scooped out, flesh diced.
• Green tomatoes — about 400g, quartered and sliced thickly.
• Onions — two large, or a good handful of shallots, chopped.
• Optional extras — green beans topped and tailed, a deseeded cucumber, a couple of carrots cut into short batons.

Keep the pieces even so everything cooks — or rather, barely cooks — at the same rate. Marrow-sized courgettes are fine here, but they must be peeled and deseeded, or the finished pickle will be watery and limp.

The salt soak, and why you should not skip it

Layer the prepared vegetables in a large bowl with about 50g of fine salt per kilo, cover, and leave somewhere cool for twelve to twenty-four hours. The salt draws out a surprising amount of water.

That matters for two reasons. First, water dilutes the vinegar and shortens the shelf life of the finished jar. Second, the soak firms up the cell walls, which is what keeps cauliflower crunchy months later instead of turning to pap.

Next morning, tip the vegetables into a colander and rinse them thoroughly under running water, then drain well and pat dry in a clean tea towel. Taste a piece — it should be seasoned, not salty.

The mustard sauce that makes it piccalilli

This is where the character of the pickle lives. For a 1kg batch you will need:

• 600ml malt vinegar, at least 5% acidity
• 25g English mustard powder
• 25g plain flour, or 15g cornflour for a glossier set
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds, lightly crushed
• 100g granulated sugar or light muscovado

Warm the vinegar in a pan until it is just below a simmer. Meanwhile, whisk the mustard powder, flour, turmeric and ginger in a bowl with a few tablespoons of cold water to make a smooth paste with no lumps. Pour the hot vinegar over it, whisking constantly, then return the lot to the pan.

Simmer gently for four or five minutes, whisking, until it thickens to the consistency of thick double cream. Stir in the sugar and mustard seeds and let them dissolve. Taste it now: it should be sharp, mustardy and only faintly sweet. If it tastes harsh, a little more sugar will round it off.

Finally, add the drained vegetables and bring the pan to the barest simmer for two to three minutes and no longer. Stir gently, then take it off the heat. The vegetables should still have real bite.

Potting, maturing and keeping

Fill hot, sterilised jars while everything is still hot, pressing the vegetables down so they sit under the sauce. Tap each jar on the worktop to knock out air bubbles, then seal with vinegar-proof lids.

Now leave it alone. Piccalilli is at its rawest on the day it is made; two weeks is the minimum wait, six weeks is better, and three months is better still. Store the jars somewhere cool and dark and it will keep for twelve months or more. Once opened, keep it in the fridge.

If the sauce separates a little in the jar, a quick stir sorts it. If it has thickened too far on opening, loosen it with a dash of vinegar.

Variations and ways to eat it

Once you have the basic method, it bends easily. A chopped chilli or a spoonful of horseradish in the sauce adds heat; cider vinegar in place of malt gives a softer, fruitier edge; honey instead of sugar works nicely if you keep bees. Some people add a little grated apple for sweetness, though it does shorten the keeping time.

On the plate, piccalilli belongs with cold ham, pork pie, a sharp Cheddar, jacket potatoes, sausages and cheese on toast. It is also excellent stirred through a salad dressing or spooned alongside a plain cheese sandwich. A jar of it, handed over at the gate, has settled more than one neighbourly disagreement — and there is no better use for a garden glut than that.