It's pickle time again.

September is pickle time at our house. Jim is the expert here, when it comes to pickles and his best effort is mustard pickles.  Also known as piccalilli, Jim's version is milder and in our opinion, better.  All the family agree on that, lol.  At the end of August we start looking out for marrows, shallots, cauliflower and vinegar - malt variety. Marrows have not been very obvious on the shelves this year, nor last year.  I think it is because people now prefer courgettes or zuchini, whichever you prefer to call them.

Jim doesn't use the pickling vinegar because that is rather strong.  Sometimes he puts a bouquet garni into the mixture whilst it is cooking. The other vegetable included is the runner bean, but we don't buy those. Jim grows them himself.

He prepares the vegetables in the early evening; salts them, covers them with a clean tea towel and then leaves them overnight to draw out the excess moisture. The next day he rinses them off and puts them in a large pan with vinegar, to cook.  It is best not to cook them too long because then the vegetables break down and turn to mush and that is not what he wants. They need to retain a crunch.  The smell of the pickles is overwhelming, filling the whole house with a wonderful, aromatic smell, which attracts wasps, unfortunately.  However, this year there were very few wasps, so it wasn't a problem.

Once the vegetables have softened, Jim takes the pan off the stove and removes the bouquet garni.  Then he adds a roux of cornflour and stirs to thicken the mixture.  There is no turmeric in this recipe, so the mixture is not yellow, but light brown.

Jim usually makes about five or six pots in the first batch and about a week later, he makes another batch to store for Christmas.  There is nothing to beat some home-made pickle on the Christmas table!