Mustard Pickles

Source & History

Here it is, the reason for my recent trip to Rhoda's - the mustard pickle recipe. People have been known to fight over jars of these pickles. This was originally Great-Grandmother Honeywell's recipe.

Notes - updated

• The recipe says "1 dish mixed vegetables (cauliflower, green tomatoes, onions, beans)." However, there is no suggestion about what size a 'dish' is. Consultation with the boss was required. 
• - I used a a large china bowl - about half full. The decider about the quantity vegetables you need is the size of the pot that you are going to cook the pickle in - you don't want the pickle to boil over.

NOTES about INGREDIENTS

• Green tomatoes are tomatoes that are not ripe ie., still green. The boss says that if you can't get them, leave them out. Do not substitute ripe tomatoes. You can, however, substitute peeled, grated chokoe (2 or 3) - don't forget to remove the seed before grating.
• Grandma says to peel the green tomatoes, you won't be able to use the traditional method for skinning ripe tomatoes (drop in boiling water for a couple of seconds and the skin will easily pull off - see How to peel tomatoes.
• the beans had the strings along the sides cut off and then were cut into pieces about 2cm long.
• 1 handful of cooking salt - using my hands that's about 1/8 cup or 2 tbsp.. The boss says to add more salt if required when you taste the pickle at the end of cooking.
• 1 dessertspoon = 2 teaspoons

NOTES about INSTRUCTIONS

• Instruction # 1 - The salted vegetables only need to stand for a couple of hours, not overnight.
• Instruction #4 - when you cover the vegetables with vinegar - barely cover them.
• Instruction #7 - if your dry ingredient/water paste is a little lumpy, put it through a sieve when you are pouring it into the vegie/vinegar mixture. And stir hard while it's going in so the mixture doesn't go lumpy.
• Instruction #8 - for instructions on sterilising jars go to Sterilising Jars (The Easy Way)
• According to Grandma, the way the mixture looks in the pot is the way it will end up, it won't thicken as it cools. If it's too thick, add a little of the extra vinegar. If it's too thin, make some more flour paste (about 2tbsp flour without extra spices) with the extra vinegar and thicken some more.