Let the wild carrot canning rumpus begin!  Tigress’ February challenge was carrots and I knew exactly what I wanted to do for it as soon as I saw it.

This summer, I’d canned a jardinière – while we enjoyed it, it was sweeter than we tend to like. So, I thought I’d mix up the spices and make a dill jardinière*. 

I used as my base this recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving by Judi Kingry   

3 bay leaves 
6 whole black peppercorns 
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 
4 cups white vinegar 
2 cups water 
2 cups granulated sugar 
1 tbst pickling or canning salt 
2 cups small cauliflower florets 
1.5 cups peeled pickling or pearl onions 
3 stalks celery, cut into ½ inch slices 
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 ½ inch x ½ 
inch sticks 
1 small zucchini, cut into ¼ inch slices 
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into ¼ inch strips 
1 large yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼ inch strips 
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and cut into ¼ inch strips 
Makes about 5 pint jars 
1) Prepare canner, jars and lids 
2) Tie bay leaves, peppercorns, and garlic in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag 
3) In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and spice bag. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 5 minutes, until spices have infused the liquid. Add cauliflower, onions, celery, carrots and zucchini and return to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in red, green, and yellow peppers. Discard spice bag 
4) Pack vegetables into hot jars to within a generous ½ inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover vegetables, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight. 
5) Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait five minutes, then remove jars, cool and store. 

For the vegetables, I didn’t have any zucchini, so I added another carrot.  I just grabbed some of the bell peppers that I had cut and frozen from our CSA. For the cauliflower, I got a wonderful container full at a new grocery store that my newest Goddaughter recommended to me – thank you!

For the spices – I deleted the sugar, and used a pickling spice from our local co-op, adding some extra dill and mustard seed.   I chopped up six cloves of garlic and distributed them equally amongst the jars.  I also threw in some dill seed in each jar.
 

I think because I didn’t measure the bell peppers, I ended up with a smaller batch than I expected, I only got three pints. But, they look really yummy and I can’t wait to try them – I’ll wait about a month before digging into them, to allow them time to pickle.

And of course, since I was pickling instead of marmalading, I didn’t have a boil over, so my stove (which has just begun to relight) was very happy.  I can’t wait until March’s challenge.

* I was comfortable doing this as I wasn’t changing the proportions or the acidity level, just the spices.

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·  (side note: I’ll post the first of the Middlemarch questions tomorrow – I finished up the first section last night)