by Pam Corbin
Essential ingredients
Pickles and chutneys customarily rely on vinegar or a mix of vinegar, salt and/or sugar to preserve tender, young vegetables and fruit. Highly flavoured spices or herbs are added to augment the final flavour, but their often fiery potency will mellow as the preserve matures.
Salt
This plays a very important role in pickling and chutney-making and, indeed, can be used as the sole preservative, as in preserved lemons. However, it’s more usually employed as a general flavour enhancer, and in the preparation of vegetables and fruit prior to pickling. It may be sprinkled straight on to the ingredients (this is known as dry-salting) or made into a brine (wet-salting) in which the ingredients are immersed and left for 12–24 hours. The salt firms up the vegetables and removes excess water which would otherwise dilute the vinegar and cause the pickle to turn mouldy. Dry-salting is ideal for watery vegetables such as cucumbers and marrows, and for very crisp pickles, whereas brine is less harsh and can be used for less juicy produce. A fine-grained salt is essential for dry-salting as it will adhere closely to the surface of the ingredient, but any good-quality salt can be used in a brine. See here for more information on different types of salt.
To make brine For a good all-purpose brine, allow 50g salt to 600ml water (a lighter brine is more appropriate for small ingredients such as nasturtium seeds). Simply dissolve the salt in the water and the brine is ready to use. The prepared ingredients should be covered with the brine and left overnight or for up to 24 hours, before being drained, dried, packed and pickled in jars. Many old recipes call for the brine to be ‘strong enough to float an egg’; you will find this ratio will do just that.
To dry-salt Layer your cut-up vegetables on a shallow dish, sprinkling fine salt between each layer. As in brining, the vegetables are left overnight or for up to 24 hours. After a few hours, you will see water being drawn from the vegetables. After salting, the ingredients need to be rinsed in very cold water (to keep them crisp), drained well and patted dry before being pickled.
Vinegar
Your pickles and chutneys will only be as good as the vinegar you use. If vinegar is the main preserving ingredient, as in most of the following recipes, it’s important to use a good-quality variety with at least 5 per cent acetic acid content (you should find this information on the bottle). Beyond that, there are no hard and fast rules as to the type of vinegar you should go for – it’s very much a matter of taste (see here for more information on different types). However, in general, a translucent vinegar gives a better appearance in a clear pickle.
The vinegar used for pickling is almost always spiced. You can buy ready-spiced ‘pickling vinegars’, commonly based on malt vinegar. However, I prefer to make my own at home, so I can choose the type of vinegar and the precise spice mix.
Spices
These are essential to give fiery bite, flavour and aroma to pickles and chutneys. Whole spices are used for pickles – ground ones produce a cloudy result – but either whole or freshly ground spices can be used for chutneys. Whole spices should be tied in a muslin bag or enclosed in a tea or spice infuser (see the directory) so they can be easily removed after cooking.
To make a muslin spice bag, cut a piece of muslin, about 20cm square, put the spices in a heap in the middle and gather up the edges of the muslin to form a little sack. Tie the bag with string so that the spices are loosely but securely held in.
A traditional pickling spice blend can be bought ready-mixed but you’ll get a much fresher flavour if you make up your own – I generally combine equal quantities of cinnamon stick, whole cloves, mace blades, whole allspice and a few peppercorns and allow 15–30g of this mix for every 1 litre of vinegar. I like to add a good tablespoonful of demerara sugar and a couple of fresh bay leaves when I brew up the spice. The mix can be kept in an airtight jar for at least a year and used as required. Other spices such as bruised root ginger, fresh or dried chillies, and fennel, dill or celery seeds can also be added to bring a different range of flavours to your pickles.
Always check the sell-by date on your spices and be ruthless about getting rid of any that are past their best. Once they reach a certain age, they’ll lose the aroma and flavour you need. If you are using ground spice in a recipe, it is always worth taking the time to grind your own because, once ground, spices lose their pungency amazingly quickly. Give whole spices a light toasting in a dry frying pan then grind as finely as possible in a pestle and mortar, or a spice or coffee grinder. Prepare the spices in small quantities and don’t keep the mix for more than a week or two.
Vegetables and fruit
These ingredients, which will make up the bulk and body of your preserve, should be young, firm and as fresh as possible. Almost any produce can be used, though soft berries are generally better in jams and jellies. I’ve made pickles and chutneys with just about everything else! Apples, gooseberries, pears, plums, marrows and tomatoes (ripe or green) form the base of most chutneys. For most recipes they should be peeled, washed and well drained, before being chopped, diced or left whole. Cut away any bruised or damaged flesh – this will not improve your pickles.
Making perfect pickles
Pickles are very easy to make and their success relies quite simply on good preparation of the raw ingredients, a well-spiced vinegar and an adequate maturing period.
1. After brining or salting your prepared fruit or vegetables, rinse and drain them well.
2. To prevent bruising, don’t pack the produce too tightly into the jars.
3. Pack in an attractive way to within 2.5cm of the top of the jar, leaving enough room for the contents to be completely covered with vinegar.
4. Always use sterilised jars and vinegar-proof lids (see the directory).
5. Use cold vinegar for crisp pickles and hot vinegar if a softer texture is required.
6. Store your pickles in a cool, dark, dry place and leave them for at least 4 weeks before using.
Making perfect chutneys
Don’t rush your chutney-making, for a good chutney will take several hours to make. The end result will be more than worthy of the time you’ve spent.
1. Use a stainless-steel pan and wooden spoon – other materials may react with the vinegar and cause discoloration.
2. Cut fruit and vegetables into small, even-sized pieces – this is time-consuming but really crucial in achieving a good final texture.
3. Long, slow cooking in an open pan is essential for the chutney to become rich, smooth and mellow.
4. Towards the end of cooking, stir frequently so the chutney doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.
5. The chutney has reached the right consistency when you can draw a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan and see a clear line for a few seconds before the chutney comes together again.
6. Fill jars to within 5mm of the top and cover with vinegar-proof lids. Badly covered chutney will dry out and shrink in the jar.
7. Store chutneys in a cool, dark, dry place and leave to mature for at least 8 weeks before using.
Spring rhubarb relish
Season: May to July
Made with the reddish-green stalks of maincrop or ‘field’ rhubarb, this is quick and easy, involving much less cooking than a chutney would require. It is light, very fruity, and not too sweet. Delicious with curries, oily fish, chicken, cheese and in sandwiches, you’ll find it’s a versatile addition to the larder.
Rhubarb, by the way, is very easy to prepare but do take care to always remove the leaves as they are poisonous.
Makes 4 x 340g jars
500g granulated sugar
100ml cider vinegar
1kg rhubarb (untrimmed weight)
125g raisins
For the spice bag
50g fresh root ginger, bruised
2 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half
6 cloves
First make your spice bag by tying up the bruised ginger, cinnamon sticks and cloves in a 20cm square of muslin.
Put the sugar, vinegar, 100ml water and the spice bag into a preserving pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar and allow the spices to release their flavours into the syrup. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, trim and wipe the rhubarb stalks and chop into 2–2.5cm chunks.
Add the rhubarb and raisins to the spiced syrup. Cook gently for 15–20 minutes until the mixture is thick, but the rhubarb is still discernible as soft chunks. Remove from the heat, pour into warm, sterilised jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. Use within 12 months.
P.S. To bruise the root ginger for the spice bag, simply whack it gently with a rolling pin or similar blunt object.
Variation
Gooseberries will stand in quite readily for the rhubarb in this recipe. For the spice bag try using a mix of traditional Indian spices: 1 tsp mustard seeds and ½ tsp each of fennel, cumin, nigella and fenugreek seeds.
Chilli pepper jelly
Season: late summer to autumn
The beauty of this recipe is that it is so very simple. Moreover, you can turn up the heat or cool it down to suit your mood by the variety of the chilli pepper you use. Increasingly, these fiery fleshy fruits are being produced by specialist growers in this country (see the directory). Look out in the late summer and autumn for hot fruity Habanero, rich mild Poblano, tiny hot Thai chillies or flaming Jalapeños to use in this sizzling jelly relish. I like to use red bell peppers, as they are symbolic of the heat, but of course there’s no reason why you can’t use yellow, orange or green, or a mixture of all four.
Use this punchy jelly relish with cream cheese, smoked mackerel, rice dishes and crispy stir-fried veg.
Makes 4 x 340g jars
750g red bell peppers
100g Jalapeño or other chillies
50g fresh root ginger, peeled
350ml cider vinegar
1kg sugar with added pectin
50ml lime juice (1–2 limes)
1 level tsp salt
Start by slicing both peppers and chillies in half lengthwise and removing the fibrous tissue and countless seeds. Finely chop the peppers, chillies and root ginger or blitz them in a food processor. Place in a large pan, add the vinegar and slowly bring to simmering point. Add the sugar, lime juice and salt, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture begins to boil.
Boil for 4–6 minutes and then remove from the heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then pour into clean, sterilised jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. Use within 12 months.
P. S. If you find the pepper pieces rise to the top of the jar as you pot the jelly, leave until the jars are at room temperature, then give them a quick twist – the pepper pieces will redistribute and remain well suspended in the cooling jelly.
Pickled garlic
Season: May to August
Garlic is the strongest-tasting of the Allium family, and the moodiest too. It can change character considerably, depending on how it is treated. Left whole and cooked slowly, it is gentle and soft. Chopped up, it will release a little more of its pungent aroma, while crushed to a paste it attains the strong, sometimes bitter flavour that makes it notorious.
When pickled, it remains crisp to the bite, but the flavour becomes really quite mellow – you can eat the cloves straight from the jar. I like to slice the pickled garlic cloves finely and scatter them over salads, or serve them whole as antipasti, or nestle lots of them around a slowly roasting joint of lamb.
Garlic grows well throughout Britain – not just in the veg patch, but also in containers, tubs and even in flower borders, where it can help ward off invasive greenfly. New season’s bulbs, with their soft white or purplish-pink skins, are mild and sweet – and much better for pickling than older, drier-skinned garlic, which can be bitter.
Makes 3 x 225g jars
500g new season’s garlic bulbs
1 tsp fennel seeds
About 12 peppercorns (black, white or pink)
4–6 bay leaves
200ml cider vinegar
50g granulated sugar
Good pinch of saffron strands
Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Plunge in the garlic for a mere minute, to help loosen the outer skins. Remove from the water, drain and pat dry.
Have ready three warm, sterilised jars. Break the garlic bulbs into individual cloves. Peel each clove and pack them into the jars, dropping in the fennel seeds, peppercorns and bay leaves as you go.
Put the vinegar, sugar and saffron into a pan. Bring to the boil and boil for a couple of minutes. Pour the hot vinegar over the garlic, then seal the jars with vinegar-proof lids. Use within a year.
P. S. There are two main types of garlic, hardneck and softneck. Hardnecks produce a flowering spike – or scape – which is usually snapped off to encourage the plant to put its energy into the bulb. These scapes have a delicate, fresh garlic flavour and can be used chopped up in salads, or to make a green and garlicky pesto.
Pickled garlic
Pickled Florence fennel
Season: June to early July
Tall, willowy, feathered sweet Florence fennel, with its creamy-white, bulbous bottom, has to be one of the most alluring vegetables to grow in the garden. It’s not easy to cultivate in every soil but, if it likes your particular situation, you should be able to grow plenty to use with gay abandon in the summertime, with some left over to preserve for later in the year.
It’s only really worth making this pickle if you have a supply of freshly lifted bulbs when they are pale green and tender. All too often, the imported stuff is yellow and coarse. You have to discard much of the outer bulb and it certainly isn’t worth the expense or trouble of pickling.
This lovely light pickle is delicious with smoked or oily fish and in winter salads. It nearly always makes an appearance at our Boxing Day lunch.
Makes 3 x 340g jars
Salt
1kg fennel bulbs, trimmed and thinly sliced, a few feathery fronds reserved
1 litre cider vinegar
15g peppercorns (black, white or pink)
75g granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
3 or 4 bay leaves
1 tsp celery or fennel seeds
3–4 tbsp olive, hemp or rapeseed oil
Pour 2–3 litres water into a large pan, salt it well and bring to the boil. Add the sliced fennel and blanch for no more than a minute. Drain in a colander, cool under cold water, then drain and pat dry.
Put the vinegar, peppercorns, sugar, lemon zest, bay leaves and celery or fennel seeds into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and continue to boil for about 10 minutes until the liquor reaches a syrupy consistency. The vinegar vapours will create quite a pungent atmosphere in the kitchen.
Pack the fennel into wide-necked, sterilised jars, lacing a few fennel fronds between the slices. Remove the vinegar syrup from the heat and carefully pour over the fennel. You may well find all the spices remain at the bottom of the pan. If this happens, distribute them between the jars, poking the peppercorns and bay leaves down through the fennel slices. Pour sufficient oil into each jar to seal the surface. Seal the jars with vinegar-proof lids. Use within 12 months.
Pickled Florence fennel
Roasted sweet beet relish
Season: June to August
I love the sweet, earthy flavour of beetroot and I hate to see it swamped in strong-tasting vinegar, as so often happens. This light preserve is quite a different proposition: roasting the young roots really concentrates their robust flavour, while the sharp pungency of horseradish adds a liveliness to the sweet beet. Serve this summery relish alongside smoked mackerel. It’s also fantastic in sandwiches with cold meats.
Makes 5 x 225g jars
1kg young, small beetroot, trimmed
A little olive oil
250g granulated sugar
150ml red wine vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 large red onion, peeled and finely chopped
&nb
sp; 50g freshly grated horseradish root (or pickled horseradish, see below)
For the roasted tomato purée
1kg tomatoes
2 level tsp sea salt
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
50ml olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. For the tomato purée, halve the tomatoes and place them skin side down on a baking tray. Sprinkle with the salt, garlic and olive oil. Roast for an hour or so, on the bottom shelf of the oven, then remove. Rub through a sieve, or pass through a mouli or food mill, to remove the skins and pips – you’ll end up with about 300ml of intensely flavoured purée.
Meanwhile, put the beetroot into a baking dish and trickle with a little oil. Roast, above the tomatoes, for 1–1½ hours (longer if necessary) until the skins are blistered, blackened and loosened. Leave to cool a little before peeling. You’ll find the skins will slide off easily. Coarsely grate the beetroot (a food processor makes this job easy).
Put the sugar, vinegars, onion and horseradish into a large saucepan, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a couple more minutes. Finally, add the grated beetroot and cook for about 10 minutes, until thickened. Transfer to sterilised jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. Use within a year. Refrigerate once opened.
P.S. It’s easy to pickle horseradish root. Just grate enough freshly dug root to fill a jam jar, sprinkle over 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar, top up with cider vinegar and seal with a lid. Use in sauces, dressings and soups – and, of course, serve with roast beef.
Seasonal chutney
Season: any time from June to October
This is essentially Hugh F-W’s classic Glutney, or River Cottage chutney, which first appeared in The River Cottage Cookbook. I have not been able to find a better basic chutney recipe. I love it because the flavour is so well balanced (neither too sweet nor too vinegary) and because it is so versatile – allowing you to use whatever gluttish fruit and veg you have to hand, as long as you stick with a similar ratio of fruit/veg to sugar and vinegar. I’ve included several seasonal variations here.