Sweet Pickled Veggies

One of my favourite pickle jars to crack open on my grandparents farm when I was a kid were the sweet pickled mixed vegetables.  Cauliflower, cucumbers, carrots and onions were the main ingredients.  Sweet pickled veggies, just like grandma used to make. You can also make it spicy by adding a couple of hot peppers in the mix.  We generally leave the hot peppers whole in this recipe.  Be careful though as a little goes a long way. Amanda took a jar of this in to work one day and her office-mate ate the whole thing in one sitting, very addictive.

Sweet Pickled Mixed Veggies ~ Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cup pickling salt 3 lbs cucumber sliced 2 medium onions sliced 2 big carrots sliced 1 cauliflower 2 cups brown sugar 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp peppercorn 1 tsp celery seed 4 cups white pickling vinegar 2 cups water Jars – 4 quart sized jars or 8 pint sized jars.

Preparation:

1. Start by washing and slicing all of your cucumbers, onions and  carrots into 1/4 inch slices.  The thickness of your slices are entirely personal preference.  Chop the cauliflower into bite sized morsels.  Again, size is your choice.

2. Mix all of your chopped and sliced vegetables in a large dish.  Add 1/3 of a cup of coarse pickling salt.  Toss the mixture to distribute the salt as evenly as you can.  Let this mixture sit for 1 hour or more.

3. In a large, non metallic pot or pan, Mix together the vinegar, water, sugar, turmeric, peppercorn and celery seed and bring the mixture to a boil.  We use a large enamel coated black turkey roasting pan.

4. Rinse the vegetable mixture with cold water.  Transfer the vegetable mixture to the roasting pan with the vinegar and spice mix.  Bring the mixture back up to a boil for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, turn off the burners.

5. Ladle the mixture into sterilized canning jars.  Top off with any remaining liquid.  Pack jars to 1/2 inch of the top rim.

6. Using a non metallic tool such as a chop stick, gently remove any air pockets that have formed in the jars.

7. With a damp cloth, wipe the rim of each jar and place the sealing disc centred on the top rim of each jar.

8. Screw band down until finger tight.  Don’t over-tighten the band.

9. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Start your timer only after the water in your canner has begun to boil.

10. Remove jars from the water bath with an appropriate tool and gently transfer them to a safe spot on a counter or table.  Protect any surface from heat with a towel.

11. Let jars sit for 24 hours undisturbed.

12. Check that the jars have sealed properly.  Any that haven’t can be refrigerated and used within a couple of weeks.

13. It’s usually best to let the pickles sit for a week or two to develop their flavour, but you can crack open a jar immediately if you want.  We always do!

Learn everything you need to know about safe canning practises with Bernardin Home Canning