Thanks Sarsons, I now pickle!

I must confess that I have pickled chillies in the past after growing a glut of them one year, and it was pretty successful even if I say so myself. Yet making pickle is not something I practice or would claim to be an expert at, so when I was invited to a pickling workshop with Sarsons I thought it would be good for me to go along and share my experience with you dear reader.

As a novice I paid full attention to our instructions as we were split into teams and given different ingredients to pickle. My team was in charge of the Asian style pickled carrot and radish (mooli/daikon), and I must say it was all pretty straight forward. Wash and slice your ingredients then add with your pickling spice and vinegar to a sterilised Kilner jar, seal and wait for a week or two until the pickling magic is complete. Can it really be this simple? Yes it can! Not only was it straightforward, it was fun. I suggest you grab your partner, kids, granny or anyone else who likes to play in the kitchen and get them involved. This time of year there is a lot of vegetables out there that lend themselves to pickling and what a gift to give at Christmas for very little outlay and not a lot of effort…

But oh the pickle is good!

So now at home armed with an array of vinegars courtesy of Sarsons, I decided to make one my favourite pickles – dill cucumbers.

Another lucky team got to make these at the workshop where they used sliced large cucumbers, but when I think of dill pickles those tiny little baby cucumbers spring straight to mind. So I purchased some along with a big bunch of dill and followed the recipe from Sarsons. I boiled the jar in a large pan to completely sterilise it, I then gently warmed up the vinegar in another pan to dissolve the sugar and salt. Finely slicing the shallots and making sure all the herbs and vegetables are washed and dry, it is then literally a case of layering them into the jar and sealing shut. I can’t wait to try these once they have matured in the fridge for a week or two. The time is now to pick up a new kitchen skill and get pickling! There are so many things which you can transform into pickle goodness to impress your friends and family or just keep and enjoy all by yourself… I promise I won’t tell anyone ;) For the recipe above and a range of pickling ideas go here. Please remember to tell me in the comments below if you are pickle crazy or I you have a must try recipe to share. Michael Robinson