I’m drafting a cookbook with my mother-in-law’s recipes and the recipes from this site and while entering Elsie’s recipes, I came across mustard pickles and immediately wanted to make some. I haven’t had mustard pickles in a long time and am craving that nostalgic taste! I think mustard pickles are even easier to make than regular pickles!
This recipe is a mashup between my mother-in-law’s recipe and one from Celebration Generation. Elsie’s recipe had boiling water poured over the veggies and left overnight. The result of soggy veggies with boiling water and the lack of spices in the recipe said to me that it needed to be tweaked. Also, Elsie had 6 cups of sugar in the mustard pickles and it made my teeth hurt thinking about it!
Mustard Pickles
Ingredients
- 4 cups cucumbers
- 4 cups pearl onions
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons pickling mix
- 3/4 cup pickling salt
- 4 cups vinegar
- 4 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vinegar additional to above
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 3 tablespoons dry mustard
Instructions
- Wash your jars in very hot soapy water (or put through cycle in the dishwasher) and set aside.
- Set the rack and jars (sans lids) into your canning pot and fill it with water (I like to fill the jars first so they don't float up). Put onto the stove and bring to a boil.
- Put a small pot of water and place the lids and tops in, covering with water, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.
- Cut the root ends off the pearl onions and place in a bowl. Pour boiling water overtop and set aside.
- Wash and trim the ends off the cucumbers, then slice them into 1/4-inch slices and add to a large bowl.
- Wash the cauliflower and cut into bite-sized florets and add to the bowl.
- Cut the tips off the blanched pearl onions, squeeze out of the first layer, and cut those who aren’t small in half, place the onions into the bowl with the cucumbers and cauliflower.
- Make a paste of 1 cup vinegar, flour, turmeric, and dry mustard, adding a bit more of the vinegar if it’s really dry.
- In a really large pot combine 4 cups of vinegar and the sugar, set on medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the pickling spice and stir to combine.
- Whisk in the paste and whisk until incorporated.
- Switch to a wooden spoon and bring the pot to a boil. Simmer on medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
- Add the vegetables, bring it back up to a boil, then let boil for just 10 minutes.
- Pull a jar out of the boiling water with the canning tongs, dumping the water out of the jar.
- Put a canning funnel on the jar then use the ladle to fill them with the pickle mixture, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace, and put the lids on tightly. You may need to wipe the rims of the jars first if any brine spills over, before putting the lids on.
- Use the canning tongs to place the filled jars back into the canning pot and set a timer for 15 minutes. Make sure water covers the jars completely!
- Remove the jars using the canning tongs and tilt slightly to remove any water from the top and set aside to finish cooling and sealing.
- You’ll know when the cans are sealed by the distinctive popping sound they make.
- Wait patiently for a few weeks for full flavour! It’s a long wait, but 4-6 weeks is perfect.
MUSTARD PICKLES