Piccalilli, or mustard pickle, is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

interpretation of

South Asian pickles South Asian pickles, also known as avalehikā, pachchadi, achaar (sometimes spelled as aachaar), athaanu, loncha, oorugaai, or aavakaai, is a pickled food made from a variety of vegetables and fruits preserved in brine, vinegar, edible oils, an ...

, a

relish A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...

of chopped and

pickled Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is called ...

vegetables and spices.Spelling as per The Chambers Dictionary, 1994, . Regional recipes vary considerably.

Etymology

The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' traces the word to the middle of the 18th century when, in 1758,

Hannah Glasse Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September 1770) was an English cookery writer of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'', published in 1747, became the best-selling recipe book that century. It w ...

described how "to make Paco-Lilla, or India Pickle". An apparently earlier reference is in

Anne Blencowe Anne Blencowe or Anne, Lady Blencowe, née Anne Wallis (4 June 1656 – 6 April 1718) was a British compiler of recipes. Her book was first published more than 200 years after her death. Life Anne Wallis was born to Susanna Glyde and her husband P ...

's ''Receipt Book'', written , which has "To Pickle Lila, an Indian Pickle" credited to Lord Kilmory. The more familiar form of the word appears in 1769, in Elizabeth Raffald's '' The Experienced English Housekeeper'', as "To make Indian pickle, or Piccalillo". Richard Briggs, in his 1788 '' The English Art of Cookery'', similarly calls it "Picca Lillo". The spelling "piccalilli" can be seen in an advertisement in a 1799 edition of ''The Times''.

British piccalilli

British piccalilli contains vegetables—regularly

cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species ''Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head is eaten – t ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

courgette The zucchini (; plural: zucchini or zucchinis), courgette (; plural: courgettes) or baby marrow (''Cucurbita pepo'') is a summer squash, a vining herbaceous plant whose fruit are harvested when their immature seeds and epicarp (rind) are sti ...

and

gherkin A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand) is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or ...

—and seasonings of

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...

and

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast ...

. A more finely chopped variety, "sandwich piccalilli" is also available from major British supermarkets. It is used as an accompaniment to foods such as sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, cheese, and tomatoes. It is eaten as a relish with cold meats such as

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

and brawn, and with a

ploughman's lunch A ploughman's lunch is an English cold meal based around bread, cheese, and fresh or pickled onions.Hessayon, ''The new vegetable and herb expert'', 2014, p. 73 Additional items can be added such as ham, green salad, hard boiled eggs, and ...

. It is usually expected to be offered over Christmas, as it brightens up cold turkey and other leftovers. It is usually made in the autumn, when pickling onions become available, and with a steeping process of around two months it will be ready just in time for the festive table. As well as being a commercial product, piccalilli is a mainstay of Women's Institute and farmhouse product stalls.

Cypriot piccalilli

An unsweetened variation of British piccalilli is found in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

(including northern Cyprus). It is without baby onions, with a milder mustard sauce, and with the addition of

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', na ...

pieces. Piccalilli is known in Cyprus as ''πίκλα'' (''pikla'') in Cypriot Greek, and ''bikla'' in Cypriot Turkish. It is served as a

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...

, and occasionally as a

meze Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course ...

dish.

American piccalilli

In the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

, commercial piccalillis are made with a base of

sweet pepper The bell pepper (also known as paprika, sweet pepper, pepper, or capsicum ) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species '' Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, oran ...

s or green tomatoes. This style is somewhat similar to sweet pepper relish, with the piccalilli being distinguished by having a darker red or green color and, like British piccalilli, the chunks are larger and it is slightly sweeter. It is commonly used as a topping on such foods as

hamburgers A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or c ...

and

hot dogs A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

. British-style, yellow, piccalilli is also available. In the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

, commercial piccalillis are based on finely chopped

gherkins A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand) is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or ...

. Bright green and on the sweet side, they are often used as a condiment for

Chicago-style hot dog A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pick ...

s. This style is sometimes called " neon relish". In the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, piccalilli is not commonly served. In its place,

chow-chow The Chow Chow is a spitz-type of dog breed originally from northern China. The Chow Chow is a sturdily built dog, square in profile, with a broad skull and small, triangular, erect ears with rounded tips. The breed is known for a very dense ...

, a relish with a base of chopped green (unripe)

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es, is offered. This relish may also include

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as paprika, sweet pepper, pepper, or capsicum ) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange ...

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&n ...

green beans Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean (''Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis' ...

, and other vegetables. While not similar to other piccalillis, chow-chow is often called as such and the terms may be used interchangeably. In the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, piccalilli is uncommon.

Surinamese piccalilli

A far spicier variant of piccalilli comes from the former Dutch colony of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

, where traditional British piccalilli is mixed with a

sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients, such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an ...

made of

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

and yellow

Madame Jeanette Madame Jeanette is a chili pepper cultivar of the species ''Capsicum chinense'', originally from Suriname. The fruits are shaped like small bell peppers. Madame Jeanette chilis are very hot, rated 125,000–325,000 on the Scoville scale. The pe ...

peppers. This piccalilli is often homemade but can also be bought in jars in Dutch corner shops. Whilst Surinamese piccalilli is similar in appearance to ordinary piccalilli, the taste is much spicier.

Media references

As a term for a mixed collection, piccalilli lends its name to several books of poems, for example, ''Piccalilli: A Mixture'', by Gilbert Percy (1862), and ''Dilly Dilly Piccalilli: Poems for the Very Young'' (1989), by Myra Cohn Livingston. Mr Piccalilli is the name of a character in the children's book ''Mr Pod and Mr Piccalilli'' (2005), by Penny Dolan. The song " Lily the Pink", recorded in 1968 by UK comedy group The Scaffold, includes a humorous reference to piccalilli when describing Lily's eventual demise, in the lyric "...and despite her medicinal compound, sadly Picca-Lily died". The song was based on an earlier folk song "the Ballad of Lydia Pinkham", which celebrated a herbal remedy invented by the eponymous heroine, marketed from 1876 as " Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound". The connection between piccalilli and the vegetable compound is in name only, as the recipes differ completely.

References

External links

Piccalilli recipes from RecipeSourceBritish piccalilli recipe from the BBCU.S. Southern-style chow-chow
{{English cuisine Pickles British condiments American condiments Cypriot cuisine Surinamese cuisine Brassica oleracea dishes Vegetable dishes