Ingredients
- 500 g cauliflower florets
- 300 g green beans, cut into 3 cm pieces
- 250 g cucumber, diced
- 150 g pearl onions, halved
- 350 ml cider vinegar
- 250 ml Quebec maple syrup
- 30 g mustard powder
- 20 g flour
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp celery seed
- 15 g pickling salt
Method
- Salt the vegetables and rest for 2 hours; drain and rinse thoroughly.
- Simmer the vinegar, maple syrup, mustard powder, turmeric, celery seed, and half the salt for 5 minutes.
- Blend the flour with a little cold vinegar, whisk it into the pickling liquid, and cook until lightly thickened.
- Add the vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes, then pack into hot sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes.
Conversion and rationale
Original sweetener (classic version): 300 g white sugar
Conversion used: Replace 300 g sugar with 250 ml maple syrup; reduce the classic vinegar quantity by 50 ml and retain the full vinegar-based pickling process.
Why Quebec maple syrup: Maple rounds the mustard and turmeric while preserving piccalilli's characteristic sweet-sour bite. The condiment remains crisp, acidic, and recognizably traditional.
General rule: 1 cup (250 ml) sugar ≈ 3/4 cup (180 ml) maple syrup; reduce liquids by 45–60 ml per cup of syrup and lower oven by 15 °C. Substitution calculator →