Join me in the kitchen where we will make a delicious pickle to use up a random assortment of vegetables and fruits.
To see the initial tasting of this pickle, take a look here: • Random Stuff - Reactio...
Recipe notes (this is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than an actual recipe):
The basic formula is:
3kg fruit and vegetables
1kg brown sugar
1 litre malt vinegar
5 teaspoons of your choice of spices
2 teaspoons salt
(I'm not going to convert these units because ounces and pints are not the same in all places - please perform your own conversions if you need to).
Scale:
The above will make quite a lot; you can easily halve all the amounts to make a smaller batch (or make two thirds of it, as I did).
Substitutions:
A wide variety of fruits and vegetables could be substituted here - if you are a gardener with a glut of tomatoes or courgettes, or cucumbers, or apples, this could be made with predominantly one type of fruit or vegetable, but you're probably still going to want some onions in there for the flavour.
I'm not sure if leafy vegetables (like cabbage) or starchy vegetables (like potato) would work in this; if you have those things, you might want to seek a different recipe.
If you don't have brown sugar, white sugar will do - you could add a tablespoon of molasses if you have it, or some dates or stoned prunes - or if you don't have any of that, just make a lighter coloured pickle - it will be OK.
You could use wine vinegar or cider vinegar instead of malt vinegar, or non-brewed condiment if you have a reason to avoid brewed vinegars.
If you have white distilled vinegar instead of brown malt vinegar, use 750ml vinegar diluted with 250ml water.
Some of the sugar (up to probably half of it) can be substituted with raisins, dates, prunes or other sweet dried fruits.
I used mixed spice (equiv: 'pudding spice' or 'pumpkin spice'), allspice, chilli flakes and curry powder - you can substitute different aromatic and piquant spices if you prefer them, or if that's just what you have available; mustard, ginger, turmeric, cumin, caraway and other spices like those will all work.
Adjustments:
This makes quite a sweet, medium-spicy pickle; if you prefer sour things, you could dial back the sugar by one quarter of the total amount, or use distilled vinegar. If you want a really piquant pickle, add more of the spices you like, or include some fresh hot peppers in the vegetable mix.
If you want something that is completely spreadable, you could mince the vegetables in a food processor. If you like chunky pickle, cut the pieces to the size you like best.
All in all, this is a very forgiving recipe - as long as you do something a bit like this, you'll end up with something a bit like this.