The Verdict

I finally got round to trying some of my preserves over Christmas and have to say I was extremely pleased with the results...

... tomato & pepper relish really did taste as good as something you could buy in the shops - I can't wait to try it on a burger.

... pickled green tomatoes were quite sweet, I was expecting them to taste more like pickles. They are lovely with both cheese and ham.

... pumpkin chutney was a total delight, I will definitely be making more of that next year.

... pickled cucumbers, once again are just as good as the ones you can buy. I will have to put more effort into growing onions for pickling next year.

The only thing left to try is cucumber and apple chutney, hopefully I will enjoy that just as much as the others.

More Cucumber Preserves

I made another batch of cucumber and apple chutney yesterday, but this time I followed the recipe more closely, so I used

2 lb cooking apples
1 lb shallots
2 lb cucumbers
1 pint malt vinegar
1 lb demerara sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper

I also used a food processor, so the ingredients were finely chopped rather than chunky.

I also pickled some more of them a week or so ago.

Cucumber production has slowed down considerably though, so I don't think I'll be preserving any more this year.

Cucumber & Apple Chutney (Spicy)

Cucumbers keep on coming, so I was back in the kitchen earlier in the week to make a chutney. This is what I used:

1lb cooking apples
1/2 lb shallots
1lb cucumbers
1/2 pint malt vinegar
1/2 lb sugar (was supposed to be demerara, but I didn't have enough so mixed it with granulated)
1 tsp salt (was supposed to be 1/2 tsp - doesn't seem to have affected it though)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (as with salt it was supposed to be 1/2 tsp as I was making half the quantity in the recipe - that's why I'm calling it spicy!)

This is what I did:

Peeled, cored and chopped the apples. Peeled and chopped the shallots (was supposed to be finely, but I'm not very good at fine chopping - maybe I should be calling this chunky & spicy chutney). Deseeded the cucumbers and chopped - once again, should have been finely!

Put it all into a pan with the vinegar and brought to the boil.

Simmered until soft (about 20 minutes)

Added the sugar, salt & cayenne pepper, and stirred to dissolve the sugar.

Left to simmer until it reached chutney consistency (about another hour), stirring every now and again to stop it sticking.

Decanted into warm sterilised jars while it was still hot, and sealed.

It does taste lovely... if you like it spicy!

Pickled Cucumbers

Cucumbers seem to be growing by the minute... I check them in the morning and they aren't ready, by lunch time they need to be picked!

So, pickling some of them seemed to be a good idea, and this has been the easiest recipe so far. All I needed was:

Cucumbers
Salt
Spiced Vinegar (I cheated a bit and used a ready made one)

This is what I did:

Washed and dried this many cucumbers

Cut them into chunks and placed them in a bowl, layering them with salt

Placed the bowl in the fridge for 24 hours.

Rinsed well and left to drain

Packed into sterilised jars and covered with vinegar

They should be ready to eat in about 4 weeks.