We don’t have a lot of surplus vegetables in the garden.
Our aim is to grow a small quantity of a large variety of produce – sufficient for our daily consumption – rather than large quantities of just a few. As a result we’re unlikely to have a glut of cucumbers, but we’re usually able to put three or four different veg on the table each night for dinner.
Having said that, we’ve had enough to do some small scale preserving, and it’s been very rewarding!
We harvested about six kilos of roma tomatoes in total – after cooking and eating, there was enough left over for a small batch of passata and a bottle of roasted tomato ketchup…
Capsicums have been a poor performer in our garden – we’ve only had a few little green ones that never turned red, but the Japanese eggplants have been fantastic! I turned a kilo of our homegrown crop into three and a half jars of eggplant pickle…
Finally, I was keen to try Pam the Jam’s piccalilli following the recipe here. Most people make preserves when they have garden surplus, but I did the reverse – I came across the recipe first and then went hunting in the garden to see what I could find. In the end, I was able to cobble together a kilo of crisp vegetables, including a couple of straggly beets, some Lebanese cucumbers, celery, green tomatoes, an assortment of multi-coloured carrots and the aforementioned green capsicums…
The piccalilli (top photo) was very easy to make and is currently maturing in the pantry. Great stuff!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Those of us in ‘wintry’ places are enjoying your garden adventures – thanks much! Guess it’s just about time to start thinking about getting some seeds started inside – of course, just about the time when we’re getting in high gear, you’ll be ready for a rest.
Yeah, 6 kilos of tomatoes is probably more than you’d want for dinner – and they are pretty!
Doc, this is year one for us, so it’s still early days and the soil is pretty poor. Hopefully over the next few years we’ll be able to get better crops, but there’s a lot to learn! :)
Most of our toms feel to grubs and wilt, but we were inordinately proud of our six kilos, especially when we cut them open and they were all so perfect! :)
Your very own tomato sauce Celia – how lovely. Am very envious of your tomatoes. With no greenhouse or polytunnel facility, we have to rely on outdoor tomatoes and if we get a couple of handfuls each year we count ourselves lucky! It doesn’t look as though the beets have bled into the rest of the piccalilli which is interesting. Quite like the idea of using them, but do like the nice yellow colour. I made my 1st ever batch this summer and was very impressed with it.
Choc, I’m not sure about the beets. They’re starting to bleed a bit now. Pam the Jam suggested a whole lot of different veg, but I didn’t have them on hand so I improvised. Will be interesting to see how the pickle develops.
Re the tomatoes, Pete thinks we need to rig some sort of structure to protect them from the bugs – will let you know if we think of anything. Outdoors and chemical free don’t result in many tomatoes! :)
Mmm your preserves and pickles look scrummy! We’ve made that same piccaliili too back in September with the last of the little beans we grew and cauliflower I think. I always think of it as a very English pickle. I’ve never pickled aubergine though – sounds delicious.
I must congratulate you on not getting gluts, we definitely had far too much lettuce this year ;)
Jo, the pickled aubergine is my favourite – I eat it straight on rice! And we learnt out lesson – we don’t actually eat much lettuce (although we think we do) – and lots went too long in the garden and turned bitter. That’s not a disaster though as the chooks love it! :)
Your preserves all look delicious Celia. It’s so satisfying turning an excess into something to enjoy in the future, especially when it all smells so good in the process! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten piccalilli – the commercial bright yellow stuff doesn’t appeal but yours looks great.
C, thank you! I only heard of piccalilli recently! I still have no idea if the one we made tastes right.. :)
What I want to make are bread and butter pickles – the sliced cucumber ones – but we don’t ever have leftover cucumbers – the boys eat a dozen a week!
All your pickles look mouthwatering – I’d love some on brownbread and cheese right now!!
Thank you – we’re having them on homemade sourdough spelt, which is almost brown! :)
I’m living vicariously through your lovely garden. Mine has about three feet of snow on it right now…sigh…
Mmm!
Such a pleasure to look at and dream about and look forward to in about 6months! Your tomatoes are a picture.
I think your garden is very impressive.
Celia if I was making that with vegetables coming out of my garden all you would be able to hear once finished would be a soft contented sigh…
What fun you’ve been having in your kitchen, Celia! I do enjoy a good preserving session and am eagerly pondering over what to do with various items from the veggie patch. With all the funny weather lately, things are only starting to kick off now..I picked our first ripe tomato yesterday, very exciting!
I have an excess of a few vegetables at the moment, will definitely give the picalili a go.
Your photos are beautiful.
How did you manage Celia? I tried staggering my plantings so there would be smaller dribbles of veggies, but still all the zucchinis ripened at once! I envy your green thumb, and I’m glad you still had enough to preserve for later.
Celia I think one of these days I’m going to have to see your wonderful garden in real life. I’m so envious of all your creations.
The colours are just gorgeous and everything looks so deliciously fresh!
Rocky Mountain Woman, Heidi, I’m glad you’re enjoying the pics! It’s so hot here at the moment that I can’t wait for winter! (Though I won’t feel that way in a couple of months!)
Deb, Brydie, thank you! Brydie, I know it’s not quite the same, but you would probably love a visit to Flemington Markets – I can just see you coming home with a box of tomatoes and having a complete blast making passata. :)
Chris, look forward to seeing what you come up with! :)
Anne, I’ve found the Pam Corbin recipes really reliable – hope you enjoy the piccalilli!
Chef, it really isn’t that green, but we did plant out the whole yard, so there’s bits and pieces all the time to eat. Hopefully as we keep improving the soil, the bounty will increase!
Preserves always remind me of my Nana – such lovely warm memories!
:-) Mandy
Hehe as for me I find a recipe and go searching at the fruit and vegetable shop for produce. I think you’re that one crucial step closer! :P
Yum, everything looks beautiful. I have been preserving up a storm lately, I love it! If you have any spare apricots you really should try the recipe I have posted for apricot honey, it’s sooooo good!
The piccalilli looks great, such gorgeous colours!
Yumm-O!
Fantastic preserves, Celia.
When I made pickled chow-chow (piccalilli) I could still taste the raw powdered mustard, and was worried when bottling up.
After 2 months of maturing, it developed into a Indian yellow, delicious chutney.
Nice cooking, as ever!
Mandy, I hope we can bring preserves back into vogue! :)
Lorraine, yes, but it often involves creative substitution! I’m still not convinced including the raw beetroot was the right thing to do in the piccalilli.. :)
Amy, thank you, I’ll check out your recipe! Oh, how nice it would be to have spare apricots! We don’t grow them, and they’re only ever at the markets for a few weeks each year!
Grilly, thank you – that’s encouraging. I’ll make sure to give my piccalilli plenty of time to mature!
Lovely Celia, the whole plan you guys are following with your garden is working like a treat isn’t it :) I’ve made your roasted tomato ketchup & I’d love to try your pasata too… looks yummy.
This is such a lovely post Celia – good plan with the variety – but I’m so pleased for you that you did have enough for preserving! preserving is so rewarding and such a delight. Doesn’t sound like you had enough to give any away though …? @frombecca
Celia… I always know that I can pop in and get a great idea. Picadilly sounds great and I haven’t thought about that in a long time. Your pictures of course make it very appealling. Wish it was warm here. I am looking forward to spring in my neck of the woods. Hope all is well with you and your friends. B:)
I wish I had the space, and the patience, to grow a large number of vegetables like you. That eggplant pickle looks awesome! I will definitely have to try that out.
I’d really like to try that eggplant pickle…nobody here likes eggplant except me. I often wait until nobody’s home and make szechuan eggplant (with chilli bean paste, ginger and garlic, soy). It is a black, sticky, decadent dish!!