Christmas pickles

[welshgun]

Ok Christmas pickles how do you do your,s? Looking for  new recipe's to try out.

[bruno22rf]

Don't bother anymore - since Tesco started selling Barry Norman Pickled Onions at Christmas I think I would be wasting my time.

[Mice!]

I sometimes get jars of pickle off the mother in law at Xmas yum yum, simple present but good, with a few bottles of hobgoblin and such ? 

[dead eye alan]

 

  Sorry just picked up on this thread did mine a long time ago, 5 keller jars of onions in malt vinegar and pickling spice, 2keller jars pickled egg's in just plain white vinegar does is it for the family at christmas.

[amateur]

I've still got some small ripe figs on the tree and a few quince, so I'm going to have a go at fig and quince chutney this week

[figgy]

Pepper pickled eggs are very moreish. Get a jar of pickled onions and then chop up some usually four to six scotch bonnet or other lively chili’s, go for hot ones as the pickling removes a lot of the heat and put in the jar turn the jar to agitate the mix and leave for a few weeks.

Wife has made some sweet and tart balsamic pickled shallot onions that are special along with her red onion marmalade with cheese or salads mmmm at nearly twenty past seven on a morning I’m thinking can I get away with cheese crackers and pickles for breakfast 

balsamic pickled onion recipes are online along with lots of pickle ones. 

[amateur]

On ‎04‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 21:49, amateur said:

I've still got some small ripe figs on the tree and a few quince, so I'm going to have a go at fig and quince chutney this week

So that's that done, and here is the recipe.

I picked all the figs off the tree (Brown Turkey) and discarded the green unripe bullets, leaving about 20 very small but nicely ripened ones (not quite as sweet as they were in August though) These were washed, the stalks chopped off and then the figs quartered.

We had taken all the quinces off the tree in October and my wife had already peeled, chopped and cooked them with sugar to use as pie-fillings or to add to stewed apple. Now, however, we were a bit bored of quince and had about 1lb of cooked quince left,

I diced 1 1/2 medium onions and sweated them in a large saucepan in a little oil until they started to turn golden. I added the figs and cooked them with the onions for a couple of minutes. Then added the quince, a pint of malt vinegar a handful of big juicy raisins, a grated nub of root ginger, 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped and heated the pan to a nice bubbling boil.

Then the spices went in. 3 heaped teaspoons of turmeric, a couple of teaspoons of garam masala, a teaspoon of ground cumin, the same of coriander and mustard powder, a tablespoon of whole peppercorns (this always adds a surprise when you are eating it) and 1/4 teaspoon of chilli, or to taste.

Once that lot had cooked for a while, I started adding sugar, accepting that the quince had already been sweetened when it was cooked, so I only added 2 tablespoons - I don't like my chutney too sweet, and let the whole lot boil down to a nice thick porridgey consistency. 

I had previously washed out a large kilner jar and put it in a 125 deg C oven to dry out and warm up to the same temperature as the chutney and had also bought some small hexagonal jars very cheaply from Wilkinson's to give as small Christmas presents full of chutney. These also had the soapy wash and oven treatment.

I tasted the chutney again for sweetness, it was fine and packed the hot chutney into the hot jars and sealed them, and as they cool they form a vacuum seal.

I had about 2 tablespoons of chutney left which will be sampled with my lunch tomorrow.

I will let you know how the main batch is received by the family on Boxing Day

 

 

Edited December 8, 2017 by amateur
Grammar