Well I made the Mixed Winter Pickle from _Small Batch
Preserving_.
Whoo boy is it sweet. The recipe called for slinging the
cauliflower, onion, and carrots into the boiling vinegar mix
and bring back to a boil. I did not put the onion in this
category, as I like crisp onion! I also parboiled them baby
carrots for 3 mins beforehand, as we don't like our carrots
too crunchy.
I did not have any wax beans so I used Sugar Snap Peas. I
would not advise this again. They were certainly edible, but
this recipe is canned and at my altitude the mix had to boil
for 25 minutes. The peas were on the verge of too done. The
simmering water bath process was also suggested in the
recipe.
The cauliflower maintained its shape, but was well cooked.
Chunks of cauliflower big or bigger than a walnut is a good
size. Smaller gets cooked too much. The recipe called for 2
cups florets, about 1/2 cauliflower. I wanted more. The red
bell pepper maintained its bright red color, but the texture
was on the verge of soft. Once again, the simmer bath mighta
been better.
I also threw in a sprig of dill (it's been waving at me in
the garden), but the flavor was drowned out by the vinegar,
onion and cauliflower. Maybe needed to use dill seed or more
leaf.
I also made a batch replacing 1.5 cups sugar with 3/4 cup
splenda, used 4 cups cauliflower, a piece of cabbage that
needed to be used and no peas. This was nice, but all the
cole veggies gave off a di-stink-tive aroma when the jar was
opened. Didn't affect taste to me, but open that jar in the
pantry not at the party. The cauliflower stems, peeled and
sliced were nice too.
hehehe My neighbor, who won the benefit of this experiment
asked me to teach her how the pickle is made. bwhahaha. The
first ones're free, the rest cost ya!
Making asparagas pickles tomorrow as a reward for
balancing the checkbook once again.
Edrena