A home-canned, homemade version of Branston Pickle (aka “sweet pickle”), this pickle has all the flavour and crunch without the frightening amounts of sodium in the commercial versions.
This is a sweet brown relish with small chunks of vegetables in it. Some people describe it as a chutney.
When an English person talks about having a cheese and pickle sandwich, this is the “pickle” that is meant. It’s very nice with cheese and bread or rolls.
This recipe makes quite a lot, so you may wish to cut it in half. Or, make it all and designate some jars as Christmas gifts!
This recipe first appeared in Canadian Living’s “Complete Preserving Book”; Ball later adopted and published it in its 2016 “All New” book.
The recipe
If you wish to adjust batch size, do the math first on paper.
Jar size choices: Quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz) OR half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml/ 16 oz)
Processing method: Either water-bath or steam canning
Yield: 8 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 15 minutes either size jar
Ploughman's Pickle
Ingredients
- 500 g rutabaga (aka Swede. Diced, peeled. 4 cups. 1 lb. Measurements after prep. 1 medium-sized rutabaga from the store),
- 350 g cauliflower (minced. 3 cups. ¾ lb. Measurements after prep. Half of a medium-sized cauliflower)
- 500 g carrots (washed, peeled and diced. About 3 cups / 1 lb. Measurements after prep. About 3 medium-large.)
- 400 g onion (finely diced. 2 cups / 14 oz. Measurements after prep. 2 medium onions)
- 400 g zucchini (aka courgette. Finely diced. 2 cups / 14 oz. Measurements after prep. About 2 small)
- 400 g Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored, finely diced. Around 2 ½ to 3 cups finely chopped. 14 oz. Measurements after prep. 2 apples)
- 200 g dates (chopped. 1 cup / 7 oz)
- 100 g gherkin pickles (aka cornichons. Finely diced. 3 oz. About 12)
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 750 ml malt vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 3 cups / 24 oz )
- 500 ml water (2 cups / 16 oz)
- 100 ml lemon juice (bottled. ⅓ cup / 3 oz)
- 60 ml Worcestershire sauce (¼ cup / 2 oz)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons mustard seed
- 1 ½ teaspoon allspice (ground)
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander (ground)
- ¼ teaspoon cloves (ground)
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (ground)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
- 250 g brown sugar (1 cup firm packed / 8 oz)
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare all the veg from the rutabaga down to the garlic; set aside. (Don't worry about the apple browning.) Cut a thin slice off each end of the zucchini and discard those slices.
- In a large saucepan of at least 8 litre (8 US quart) capacity, mix everything from the vinegar down to and including the sugar. Bring to a boil.
- Add the prepared veg.
- Lower heat to a simmer and simmer uncovered for about 1.5 to 2 hours or until the rutabaga/swede/turnips are slightly softened.
- In a small bowl mix the flour with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice until smooth. Add to the pot, stir in. Cook for 5 more minutes. If using Kitchen Bouquet, adjust colour to desired darkness.
- Stir well to ensure everything in the mixture is evenly distributed.
- Pour into quarter-litre (½ US pint) or half-litre (US pint) jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jar for 15 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Nutrition
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipe notes
- You can use turnip if you can’t find rutabega.
- You can use caramel colouring instead of kitchen bouquet, or omit.
- Yes it is safe to use flour in this recipe because it has been lab-tested for safety.
- Instead of gherkins, you can use cornichons or any sour (but not dill) pickle.
- Instead of malt vinegar, you could try cider vinegar (5% or higher).
- Use bottled lemon juice for its higher acidity, rather than fresh.
- Instead of the salt, you can use a non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. We have found Herbamare Sodium-Free performs well in that regard.
- You can reduce the sugar, or use the same volume amount of granulated Splenda®, or use 2 teaspoons of liquid stevia. For stevia, we’d recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia .
- Enzymes in the blossom ends of zucchini can interfere with the quality of your canned products; this is why you trim off just a sliver and discard it.
Recipe Source
English Brown Pickle. Canadian Living Test Kitchen. The Complete Preserving Book. Montreal, Canada: Transcontinental Books. 2012. page 191.
All Canadian Living home canning recipes are lab-tested for quality and safety.
Modifications made:
- Increased acidity slightly with a few more tbsp of vinegar and lemon juice, and decreased water by that amount;
- Added dry spices of: mustard powder, ground coriander, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon;
- Increased browning from 2 teaspoons to 2 tablespoons;
- Mixed thickener with a bit more lemon juice instead of water.
A version of this using Tamarind Paste later appeared in Ball’s All New book, called Ploughman’s Pickles. (In: Butcher, Meredith L., Ed. The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. New York: Oxmoor House. 2016. Page 229.)
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 1 tablespoon / 15 ml
- 11 calories, 28 mg
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 1 tablespoon / 15 ml
- 7 calories, 8 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 1 – 2 tablespoons: 0 points; 3 to 8 tablespoons: 1 point
With a pH of 3.59, this pickle is well in the safety zone below the upper cut-off of 4.6 pH
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
Linda
Is it okay to use gherkin pickles like McLaren’s? They seem to be a sweeter type pickle than the French style which is harder to come by where I live. Or is there another type of pickle that would work?
Healthy Canning
Yes, that’s fine.