Can It

This summer, The Teen  and I have spent 3 days canning together, not only are we still speaking to one another, but we are actually getting better at it!  With the kitchen boss (My Loving Spouse) at work, we’ve muddled through making piccalilli without ‘proper’ supervision.  All of my American friends are saying…”Pica-what?”  Piccalilli is a delicious British mustard vegetable relish.

I have been wanting to have piccalilli in our pantry since our last trip to England.  With our abundant garden, the time was upon us.  It took quite awhile to find a recipe that I could understand and that would work for us!  It is now our favorite piccalilli recipe, as we’ve used it all of two times.  Thank you BBC Country Show Cook Off!

Our first batch included our plethora of green beans.

We each have our tasks, I am the washer-cutter-upper of veggies, while she is the mixer-measurer of the sauce.

The dogs are available for tripping over, napping encouragement and the occasional clean up of spills.

Batch two came in yesterday with our beautiful carrots, onions and more beans.

We did buy and add cauliflower to each batch as…that is how it is supposed to be done.  We also had a few trips to the store for more malt vinegar, which is a somewhat rare commodity here.  Fred Myer carries one smallish size of ‘London Pub’ malt vinegar, that is it, no other options and we seem to never get enough.

(Insert important ingredients here: malt vinegar, Coleman’s mustard, The Teen’s iphone).

Batch two was a colorful combination.

The Kitchen Boss had been a tad worried about our first batch as the ‘sauce’ did not fill the jars as full as the vegetables did.  The canning crew (The Teen and I) were not really worried as we’d followed the directions.  However, with batch two, we doubled the recipe and had our ‘ah ha’ moment.  The recipe had actually said to “Return the drained vegetables to the pan and add more sugar and water if necessary and then take off the heat.”  Except, we didn’t actually know ‘what necessary’ had meant the first time.  Here is what I really think…oh, well!  I am convinced it will still be very good.  I am also laughing, thinking of The Teen’s God Mother who wants to come here for ‘canning lessons’.!  Ha, now that will be entertaining!

Batch Two is looking good!  Not only are we on a great learning curve, but we are enjoying our work together.  I believe our family’s females who canned abundantly would be sort of proud of us.