Now, pickling isn't the first thought that springs to mind when faced with too many turnips but I have a surplus of small ones from thinning the turnip row, alongside some larger ones pulled for dinner. It's not really the weather for turnips in my opinion (far too hot) so, knowing I'd seen a recipe for pickling them in one of my books, I decided to give it a go.
The book in question is a The Country Preserves Companion by Jocasta Innes - and, although small in size (4 x 6 ins) it's big on ideas and inspiration.
Today for a change I'm following the recipe exactly as given in the book.
Basically the turnips are quartered and packed into a jar with sliced beetroot and celery leaves.
And very pretty it looks too at this stage!
The jar is filled with a mix of brine and white wine vinegar, but then came the tricky bit.
With the lid screwed on lightly, the jar was placed in a saucepan of water and boiled for 15 mins to sterilise.
Then the lid is screwed on tightly. As the jar cools the lid should seal, keeping the contents free from germs - but it didn't!
I've done this before when bottling tomato puree and in that case when the seal doesn't hold and reboil the bottle but I didn't want to keep cooking the contents so I'm risking it and hoping everything is ok.
I now should keep the jar for 10 days in a warm spot - the recipe suggests next to a radiator but I think it's warm enough at the moment to not worry with that.
After that it should be stored in a cool place and eaten within 6 weeks.
Hopefully it will taste good.
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