Mustard Pickles
About 6 quarts

1 quart green cucumbers
Brine solution*
3 quarts green vegetables (tomatoes, beans, broccoli, etc., anything green)
2 dozen small white onions
1 large cauliflower
2 dozen small gherkins
Mustard Sauce (below)

Slice the cucumbers (with the peel, if unwaxed) and cover with the brine solution for 12 hours in a cool place. Drain well.

Slice or otherwise process the green vegetables you've chosen. If your beans aren't tender, blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. Put all the green vegetables in a pan, pour boiling, salted water over to cover (1 teaspoon of salt per quart of water). Bring back to the boil and remove from heat. Drain well.

Peel and slice the onion. Break the cauliflower into florets. Slice the gherkins if needed or leave whole if small. Repeat the boiling water process you used for the green vegetables, and drain well.

Combine all the vegetables. Cover with the mustard sauce (below) and bring back to the boil. Fill the jars and process according to your processor instructions. Let set for a few weeks to develop flavor.

Mustard Sauce

1 1/2 cups flour
6 tablespoons dry mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons turmeric
2 quarts plus 2 cups mild cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons celery seed

Combine flour, mustard, turmeric, and 2 cups of cider vinegar. Stir until smooth. Bring the remaining vinegar, sugar and celery seed to a boil. Slowly stir in the flour mixture, stirring constantly. Pour while still boiling over the combined vegetables, and proceed as above.


*Brine solution is 1 part pickling salt to 9 parts water. Use pickling salt, because common table salt has anti-caking additives which will cloud your pickles. Make enough to cover the cucumbers.


Recipe courtesy of Beier's Greenhouse. Adapted from The Joy of Cookingby Irma S. Rombauer. Copyright 1946 by Bobbs-Merrill Company. Bobbs-Merrill: Indianpolis, IN.

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