Pretty Pickles

This is one of my favourite pickles to make.  Unfortunately once you start eating them it’s a little bit hard to stop!

Ingredients

6 cups of cubed cucumber

1/4 cup of non-iodised salt

4 onions, diced

6 capsicums, cubed - a combination of green, red, orange and yellow puts the "pretty" in these pickles

3 cups of sugar

1 tsp of celery seeds

1 tsp of mustard seeds

1/2 tsp of tumeric

2 cups of white vinegar

3 Tbsp of cornflour

1/4 cup of water

Method

Cut cucumbers in half length-wise and scoop out watery, seed area.  

Cut cucumber into 5 mm (1/4 inch) cubes, place in bowl and sprinkle with the salt.  Stand for 30 minutes, but re-mix every 5 or so minutes in the bowl.  

Cut the onions and peppers into small cubes and place in a large saucepan with the sugar, celery seeds, mustard seeds, tumeric and vinegar.

After 30 minutes rinse and drain the salted cucumber.   Add the cucumber to the saucepan.

Bring mixture to the boil, stirring frequently.  When boiling vigorously thicken with the cornflour which has been mixed to a paste with the water. 

Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal with sterilized lids.

Autumn Harvest

Autumn is a sumptuous feast.  

It's the beginning of the "dying time" but as if in one last extravaganza Mother Nature puts on some of her most beautiful dresses and scatters far and wide her gifts of fine fruits, berries, nuts and other delightful fare.  Not content to merely trickle to us these treats she positively rains them down in seemingly endless buckets.  It's a wonderful thing and also sometimes a little intimidating to be presented with so much bounty!

It began with the pickles - cucumber, onion and capsicum.  Andrew poses with the jars we did a few weeks back, our second batch of "pretty pickles".

  

In March the pears are ready from our old Bon Chretian and Doyenne Du Comice pear trees.  We've dried some and began to bottle others in honey and cinnamon.

   

 

The apples start to trickle in - the Granny Smith, Royal Gala and Golden Delicious. 

We have begun to dehydrate some of the apples and pears.