In A Pickle

I discovered this lovely book, The Modern Preserver, just in time to preserve some of our home-grown produce, much of which was saved after September’s post-tropical storm.

Kylee Newton turned a hobby of creating preserves to give as gifts to friends into a business, and she shares some of her most popular recipes in her book.

As it was too late to try preserving summer fruit, I decided to give the pickle recipes a try.  I made her pickled cucumber relish, with pickling cucumbers, red onion and red pepper, as well as a selection of spices.  This pickle only keeps for four weeks (in the fridge), so it wasn’t suitable for longer-term storage.  I found it a bit sweet for my taste, but I would consider making it again, but with less sugar.

I also made a spiced zucchini relish with our garden produce, but I don’t have a photograph of this one.  

I used a Mennonite recipe as the basis for dill pickles and these should be ready to eat about now.  I grew the dill in the garden, so it was nice to put it to good use.  

As for our beetroot, we had a very disappointing harvest this year, despite sowing more beetroot seeds than last year.  Our entire harvest only made two and a half jars.  I don’t use a recipe for this, as I prefer my beetroot unadulterated.  I boil them until tender, peel, slice and add them to sterilized jars, then cover with pickling vinegar.  They are absolutely delicious, so I’m saving a jar for Christmas.