Jardiniere - or in my house "Sammy Mixed Pickle Mess"

Here we go! I love mixed pickles. My hubby has been whining for mixed pickles for over a year. While I have been shy to get on the pickling bandwagon, I thought I would give it a go. I'm always worried about making squishy, gross pickles. I am very much a texture person when it comes to eating & "mushy" is not in my texture palette. I bought some magic Pickle Crisp to prevent that. So here it is! My first ever attempt at Jardiniere!

SPICE BAG INGREDIENTS:

Cheesecloth to tie your herbs in - I always forget & have to get creative with a tea strainer....

3 Bay Leaves 

6 Black Peppercorns

3 cloves of garlic sliced

VEGETABLES FOR PICKLING:

You can essentially use anything - this is are pickled salad for all intents & purposes. I however used:

2 cups of fresh cauliflower (1 fresh head will give you roughly 3 cups)

1 giant handful of Green Beans (Trimmed & washed)

1/2 a Vidalia Onion - usually pearl onions are used, but I hate them. I sliced up thin bits of vidalia instead.

2 large Red Bell Peppers. Cut up into 1/4 " thick slices (Any color pepper is fine)

2 Large Carrots - I peeled them & sliced them into 1/4" thick coins with my wavy pickle knife

**for a more classic recipe you can throw in zucchini, but zucchini is very squishy & flavorless to me so it's not in this batch of pickles.**

SPICES FOR JARS:

This made roughly 5 - 500ml jars. In each jar put the following spices in the bottom:

4 black peppercorns

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds (any colour)

3/4 teaspoon of Pickle Crisp

INGREDIENTS FOR PICKLE BRINE:

2 Cups of Granulated Sugar

2 Cups of Water

4 Cups of White Vinegar

1 Tbsp of canning salt (I cheated & used Kosher)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Wash, prep, peel, cut & ready your veggies. Also prepare your spice bag & have all salt & other items ready before your start this endeavor.

2. Prepare your jars, canner & lids.

3. In a STAINLESS STEEL pot or saucepan. (Only use stainless steel because other types of metal can react & cause your pickles to turn blue, cloudy, or mushy.) Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt & the spice bag. Bring to a boil & stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat when it gets to a consistent boil. Cover & gently boil for 5 minutes. (This causes the spices to infuse with the brine you are creating)

4. After the 5 minutes are up, add your cauliflower, green beans, carrots & onion slices. Return to a full boil. Remove the spice bag & then toss in your peppers at full boil.

5. Pack the veggies into your jars. Most recipes say to leave 1/2 of head space, but I don't . I find my veggies always float when I do that, so I pack the jar to the brim. Once jars are full of veggies, pour the brine on top. Run a chopstick through each jar when done to ensure there is no trapped air in the jars. 

6. Lid your jars & heat process in your waterbath canner for 10 minutes. Always make sure your jars are completely covered by water when processing. If it means you have to process in batches then do it.

7. These pickles will need to sit for two months to completely cure. They will be good on your shelf for 9 months to 1 year.