Brewing and pickling make a busy day

[Stonehead]

Well, we now have five gallons of stout on the way. We've also just finished bottling batches of apple-and-onion chutney and bread-and-butter pickle.

The bread-and-butter pickle will probably be a little less good than last year's (very nice instead of absolutely delicious), but the chutney will almost certainly come up very well once it's matured for a couple of months.

The aim is to have all three ready just before Christmas, plus one batch of cider, a suckling pig, a chicken, more chutneys, our jams and oodles of fresh veg.

And, of course, there will be plenty more to take us well into next year (in fact, we're only just finishing the very last of 2005's preserves, pickles and chutneys now.

Lovely!

[2steps]

sounds yum. but whats bread and butter pickle?

[dibnah]

Just harvested first lot of tommatillo's so will be mixing with chillis to make a hot chutney. Then off to buy a few brewing bits for the cider marathon. What a great way to spend a birthday.

[Stonehead]

sounds yum. but whats bread and butter pickle?

Not this again!

Bread-and-butter pickle is the term I know from Australia and my old Victorian cookery book "A Scientific Approach to Preserving with Brines and Vinegars".

However, I'm also told it's an American term and instead I should be using "cucumber relish", "cucumber pickle", "sweet cucumber chunks" or "cucumber chow-chow".

So you'll just have to decide for yourself!

[Stonehead]

Just harvested first lot of tommatillo's so will be mixing with chillis to make a hot chutney. Then off to buy a few brewing bits for the cider marathon. What a great way to spend a birthday.

Wassail! Happy birthday, fellow cider-maker. May you and your cider be full-bodied, strong and the provider of much merriment.

[2steps]

sounds yum. but whats bread and butter pickle?

Not this again!

Bread-and-butter pickle is the term I know from Australia and my old Victorian cookery book "A Scientific Approach to Preserving with Brines and Vinegars".

However, I'm also told it's an American term and instead I should be using "cucumber relish", "cucumber pickle", "sweet cucumber chunks" or "cucumber chow-chow".

So you'll just have to decide for yourself!

ahh, a sandwich pickle type thing like branstons?

[Stonehead]

ahh, a sandwich pickle type thing like branstons?

I have no idea what Branstons is! My pickle consists of thinly sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced onions and diced green peppers simmered in cider vinegar with sugar, turmeric, dill or celery seeds, a cinnamon stick and salt.

Depending on how dark the skin of the cucumbers are, the colour ranges from pale lemony-green to very dark green. And it's delicious.

[baldowrie]

no it's nothing like Branston, Stoney

[2steps]

does sound nice though :)