Pickled Celery

The boy loves a cheese board – especially at Christmas. His favourite is a good Double Gloucester, and the more different kinds of crackers the better. We always have chutneys to have with cheese but I found this recipe in a book of pickles from the late 1980s. 

2 heads celery

600ml cider vinegar

1tbsp salt

25g ginger, chopped as finely as you can

4 blades mace

1 small red pepper, cut into thin strips

We have had a couple of organic box deliveries in a row that included celery, which is what inspired us to pickle them. Organic celery has such a mineral hit that you don’t find in supermarket versions. We’d happily have it in a salad but it’s cold and the thought of having it pickled with cheese for Christmas, is more appealing.

A compilation of 80s hits on the kitchen CD player will salute the age of the book – it will also put you in an incredibly good mood.

Look at your jars and cut the celery stalks so they will fit upright, easily.

Put the vinegar, salt, ginger and mace in a saucepan, and boil for 10 minutes. Add the celery and red pepper and boil for another 2 minutes.

Pack the celery into jars, upright, popping the odd strip of pepper amongst them. When the vinegar mix is cool, pour it into the jars and seal. If you can’t resist (and I can’t), add a small dried chilli to each jar.

They need at least 2 weeks to develop so they will be perfect by Christmas. The boy has no idea I have made them so I hope it will be a nice addition to his Christmas cheese board.