Fall/ Preserving Recipes

All Mixed Up! Antipasto Pickles

Antipasto Pickles (Canadian Living)

The end of summer means the garden and vegetable stands are overflowing with produce! It is the perfect time of year to gather together those vegetables and get pickling. Mixed pickles are fabulous as an accompaniment or added to a salad in the winter months when veggies are expensive and of lower quality. Mixed pickles are my favorite. They are beautiful, useful, and always remind us during the dark days that the garden will again renew its colourful bounty.

I have made many recipes for mixed vegetables. Hot Mixed Pickles, Mustard Pickles, Jardiniere (Bernardin). The only Bernardin recipe I didn’t like was one for the “End of Garden” pickle. The flavour was fine but the use of brown sugar as a sweetener darkened the brine to a muddy brown colour which was visually unappealing. I have made countless batches of Topp & Howard’s “Winter Pickle”. What I particularly like about this recipe is they provide specific quantities of vegetables but, in a note, they say to use whatever vegetables you like if they are chopped evenly and measure 8 cups. That gives flexibility which is nice. This weekend I tried Canadian Living’s “Antipasto Pickle” and it is lovely. Quite delicate with the mixture of wine and vinegar steeped with a nice flavourful spice mix.

Antipasto Pickles (Canadian Living)

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
Serves: 6 - 500ml jars

Let’s get “mixed up” using the many recipes for mixed vegetables pickles. Whether you like them hot, sweet, unsweet or with a mustard base, all are wonderful additions to the winter pantry.

Ingredients

  • Spice Bag: In cheesecloth tie together:
  • 4 cloves smashed garlic
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 TBSP coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • Brine:
  • 2.5 cups white wine vinegar
  • 1.5 cups white wine
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 4 tsp pickling salt and spice bag.
  • Vegetables:
  • 3 cups cauliflower florets
  • 3 cups peeled and diced eggplant
  • 2.5 cups green beans cut in 1-inch lengths
  • 2 cups chopped onions
  • 2 cups each green and red peppers
  • 1.5 cups chopped carrots
  • 1.5 cups chopped celery
  • 1.5 tsp oregano divided
  • 1 tsp hot pepper flakes divided

Instructions

1

Bring brine to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

2

Add vegetables and return to the boil cooking 5 minutes to soften.

3

Remove spice bag.

4

In each hot jar, add ¼ tsp oregano and small pinch hot pepper flakes (optional).

5

With slotted spoon ladle vegetables into jars.

6

Use a chopstick or plastic knife to remove air.

7

Ladle brine into each jar leaving ½ inch headspace (Note: for clear brine, strain through a fine sieve before ladling,).

8

Remove bubbles.

9

Clean rims, affix lids and rings to finger-tip tight.

10

Process in a water bath or atmospheric steam canner for 10 minutes and rest for 5 minutes.

11

Transfer to cooling rack and leave undisturbed for 24 hours.

12

Check seals.

Notes

As always, use only recently developed recipes for canning including pickling (within 20 years). Old recipes do not generally have sufficient acidity to be considered safe. Remember the 50-50 rule: For pickling, brine ratios should be 50% vinegar to water. Finally, modern recipes are tested using 5% vinegar. There is no reason to purchase newly marketed “pickling vinegar”.

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply