Pickled beetroot and sweet mustard pickles

I've been harvesting a lot from the garden lately and the excess, as usual, is either frozen or pickled. I did up a nice batch of beetroot last week and still have another batch in the ground to process later this week. Beetroot is delicious juiced, grated and eaten raw, or roasted and served with other root vegetables - either hot or in a warm salad. These beetroot were boiled, then sliced and pickled in a spicy vinegar. I have two large jars and they'll do us for our salads for the next few months. My recipe for beetroot in spiced vinegar is here.

I also did up a delicious sweet mustard pickle made using a variety of vegetables I harvested or had in the fridge. The cauliflowers were picked too late and the florets had gone all over the place so I decided to use them in a pickle instead of as a hot or cold vegetable for the table. Mustard pickles were the obvious choice to make. I grew up in a family that loved relish, chutney and pickles and sweet mustard pickles was my father's favourite. This is very similar to the recipe he loved.

These two pickles involve cooking vegetables, then adding either a spiced vinegar or a spiced sauce. The sauce I added to the pickles is hot and very spicy with mustard powder, turmeric, pepper, chilli and curry powder.

SWEET MUSTARD PICKLES

• Mix 1½ litres of water with ¼ cup of salt and stir until the salt is dissolved.
• Cut up about 1 kg/2lbs vegetables such as cauliflower, cucumbers, capsicums/peppers, celery, zucchini and onions into small chunks and place the vegetables in the salted water.
• Cover and leave overnight.

• The next day, pour off the salt water, add a fresh litre/quart of water with a ½ teaspoon salt to the vegetables in the saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer until tender - about 20 minutes.
• When the vegetables are cooked, drain then through a strainer and make the sauce.
• Pour 750 mls/1½ pints cider vinegar into the saucepan and add 1½ cups sugar.
• Place it on the stove and bring to the boil.
• When it's boiling, add 1 tablespoon mustard powder, 1 tablespoon curry powder, ½ tablespoon turmeric, as much chilli as you like, salt and pepper and stir.  
• Mix two tablespoons cornflour/cornstarch in a cup with a small amount of water to make a thin paste. Add that to the hot vinegar and stir immediately. This will thicken the sauce. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for one minute, then turn it off.
• Add the vegetables to the sauce and stir thoroughly. Add the hot pickles to a hot sterilised jar.

These mustard pickles may be eaten immediately but they improve as they age.

All the jars I use for storing these pickles in are washed and sterilised by placing them in an oven on 150C for 15 minutes. Boil the lids for 10 minutes.  If you use sterilised jars, boil the pickles and add hot pickles to the warm jars, the vinegar and sugar will help preserve the pickles and they do not need a water bath. I make one or two jars of these and store them in the fridge but they can be stored in a cupboard for up to six months. I know my American and Canadian friends water bath preserves like these but here in Australia and in England we don't, and we're all still here to tell the tale.

Do you have a favourite preserving recipe, using excess vegetables, that you make every year?