Pickle

Well yesterday the neighbour came over and asked if I wanted a rather large bag of runner beans as they were rather overwhelmed by the production of their plants! How could I refuse? And I had wanted to try out this recipe for a pickle after I saw it on TV. Pickles and chutneys often use sugar in so have been off the list for us. However, I quite like having some with some bread and cheese so I'm looking forward to trying this one. It's maturing for a bit now (although I don't think it needs to according to the recipe) and I shall report back soon....

Mixed Vegetable Pickle (from "The Edible Garden" series on BBC with Alys Fowler)

Ingredients
450 ml cider vinegar
50 ml apple juice concentrate
2 tsp salt
450 g green beans, strung and sliced (I used a mix of runner beans, yellow courgette and red pepper)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 habenero chilli, deseeded and sliced (I skipped this as didn't have any!)
5 cm piece cinnamon bark
2 bay leaves
Small sprig of winter savory
Pinch of black peppercorns

Recipe
1. Mix the vinegar and fruit juice concentrate in a bowl. Add more juice or vinegar to taste.
2. Add herbs/spices to vinegar mix and let everything marinate.
3. Chop the vegetables and add to the vinegar mix.
4. Put in a clean jar, squashing the vegetables in and ensuring they are covered with the vinegar mix. If not then add more vinegar/juice concentrate.

They can be eaten straight away but do improve with age. I couldn't fit mine in one jar so had to use two. I tried to share the spices/herbs between them so hopefully it's worked! Here's a picture of the finished product.