In England where I grew up, piccalilli was sold commercially, but none was as excellent as my grandmother’s version. This always went well with cheese. It is a useful relish to keep on hand and tastes well on ham.
| Servings: | 80 |
| Yield: | 6 pounds |
Ingredients
- 1 pound salt
- 1 gallon water
- 2 pounds cauliflower, broken into small florets
- 2 pounds cucumber, peeled and diced
- 2 pounds pearl onions, halved
- 9 ounces white sugar
- 3 teaspoons mustard powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 6 cups distilled white vinegar
- 1 ½ ounces all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons ground turmeric
Instructions
- Dissolve the salt in the water, and add the cucumber, onions and cauliflower. Cover and leave for 24 hours. Drain the vegetables.
- In a large pan, blend the sugar, mustard and ginger with 5 cups of vinegar. Stir in salt and vegetable mixture, bring to the boil, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Blend the flour and turmeric with the remaining 1 cup of vinegar and stir into the cooked vegetables. Bring to the boil and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour into sterilized canning jars.
- In a large stock pot, pour water half way to top with boiling water. Using a holder, carefully lower jars into pot. Leave a 2-inch space between jars. Add more boiling water to cover them, about 2 inches above the tops. Bring to a boil and cover, processing for 15 minutes. Remove jars from pot. Put jars on a wood or cloth surface, several inches apart and allow to cool. Jars will be sealed.
Reviews
Absolutely delicious! My kids go crazy for this 🙂 just making my third huge batch… The only thing I’d recommend doing is chopping the veg small. That way you can cut a slice of cheese and dollop it on top and it sits there nicely 🙂 I might also add some whey so it will ferment…
Doesn’t make sense. Way too much salt. Also, the salt in the brine is more than enough to pickle vegetables overnight. No need to salt it again (it also says to add salt to the recipe when mixing vegetables. Simmering time is way too long. I followed the reviews instead of fthe recipe. 10 min instead of 20min. Taste it first to make your own opinion. It is always easier to add than to try to take out ingredients. Double flour quantity, otherwise, too runny.
Excellent. I did read all the comments and halved the salt and doubled the flour. It tastes great but the sauce is still thin even after doubling the flour. I hope it will thicken more after being in the jars a while. I did leave the skins on the cucumber but Next time I will remove the seeds. This is my first time “canning” and I enjoyed it. BTW, I am also a Brit by birth and haven’t eaten this delicious condiment for many years! Just like I remembered.
I used this beautiful recipe to start from and the Picalilly I made was wonderfull! Just use the info and cook for yourself! The taste with the ginger and mustard is Far more better than all tese recipes that use curry. Simply, one big hurray for Grandmother!
Hi Everyone – Another English review – To stop the veg from going muchy I put all of the fresh cut vegetables in a colinder and then sprincle a good pinch of salt over them – pop this over a bowl and then cover with a tea towl – set this aside over night – then the day after the water should have drawn out of the veg and be int he bowl below! then quickly rince off but not too much as to rehidrate the vegetables – this process keeps the veg crunchy. But I woould not make this again. I too found it far too salty and also far too thin.
Easy and fast to make, everyone enjoyed it with Easter dinner of ham and turkey.
The recipe produces an excellent tasting end result. I agree with other reviewers that it should be thicker, and I roughly doubled the flour before deciding to wait and see how it turned out when it had cooled. I also agree with the reviewer who suggested that the cucumber not be peeled. When I make it again, I might add a half a small cabbage, shredded. Continuing to agree with other reviewers, I only cooked it about ten minutes before processing in jars. With all of that, it cooks quite a while beyond the stove top cooking. As I like the taste of the AMORA brand piccalilli that we bought in France (basically their regular mustard with the veggies added), I will probably double up on the mustard next time. I don’t want to take away from this excellent recipe, but as many cooks do, I’ll modify it to my own tastes moving forward, and I am delighted that Ruth shared it with us.
i just made this recipe & i think its okay but it is runny , & i added more flour. it is a bit sour but then again this isnt’t sweet piccallili. i do remember that my nan’s recipe had to stand for 5 mths perhaps this is why its seems runny.
All I can say is what happened to Piccalilli (picallili, picalilli??) with green tomatoes and cabbage?
Another British opinion! It’s been quite a while since I had store-bought Piccalilli, and this was not how I remember it. This wasn’t revolting or anything, but it was quite salty and sour, and had an unappealing mushy consistency. Thanks anyway.
I live in England so have an easy comparison. This is very runny and way too salty. i would recommend doubling the flour and halving the salt. Picalilli in England is quite thick, and not at all salty. I would also leave the skins on the cucumbers for a more “authentic” look.
Another British opinion: The taste seems very good and authentic to me; not too salty. But I agree that the mixture needs extra thickening and the vegetables should not be simmered that long, perhaps 15 min for the onions, 10 min for the cauliflower and 2-3 min for the cucumber; or else 5-10 for all if that’s too fiddly.
This is not a good recipe! Unless you like mushy pickled vegetables! After buying the califlower, onions, spices, and using the cucumbers from my garden, then chopping everything, the whole thing turned to “mush” after simmering for 20 minutes. I thru everything out!!! It didn’t even taste that good either. Yuk!! Not a good recipe to try!!
Great! I grew up in the UK and missed this, since it not generally available in the US. I did a small trial batch (12 servings) and am really pleased. I tastes just the way I remember it.