What is giardiniera?

Open a jar of giardiniera and it looks like a tiny vegetable garden, which makes a name so close to giardino, garden, feel about right. Crunchy, sharp, colourful and a little sweet, it is one of the brightest things you can put on an antipasto plate.

What it is

The Treccani dictionary gives giardiniera several culinary meanings, among them a side of mixed vegetables cut into pieces and pickled vegetables preserved in vinegar. Wikipedia's giardiniera article describes the Italian version as usually including peppers, celery, carrots, cauliflower and gherkins, preserved in vinegar or oil with herbs and spices, and served as an antipasto or with salads. It also notes that in Italy pickles of this kind fall under the broader word sottaceti, literally "under vinegar".

There is a well-known American cousin too. Wikipedia describes the Chicago style as spicy and kept in oil, spooned onto sandwiches and pizza. It is a different condiment with the same name.

What goes into the jar

The Italian style is mild, crunchy and colourful. A good mix includes:

• Cauliflower in small florets.
• Carrots in rounds or batons.
• Celery in short pieces.
• Red and yellow peppers in strips.
• Small onions or shallots.
• Gherkins or small cucumbers.
• Optional: green beans, courgette, fennel, a few slices of chilli.

The secret is cutting everything to a similar bite size, so each forkful has a little of everything.

How it's eaten

• As antipasto, with cheese, olives and good bread.
• With cheese: next to a wedge of Parmigiano or a soft, creamy cheese, where its sharpness cuts through the richness.
• In salads: chopped into rice salads, grain salads or potato salads.
• In sandwiches: chopped finely as a relish.
• At aperitivo, in a little bowl next to the olives; see aperitivo snacks.
• With boiled or roasted vegetables and eggs, as a sharp contrast.

An easy fridge version

This is a short-lived fridge pickle, not a preserve for the cupboard.

• Make a brine of white wine vinegar and water, with salt and a little sugar, plus bay leaves, peppercorns and perhaps a few coriander seeds.
• Blanch the vegetables in the simmering brine, starting with the firmest (carrots and cauliflower), then the softer ones, until they are just tender but still crunchy.
• Pack them into clean jars, pour over the hot brine to cover, close and let cool.
• Keep the jars in the fridge and eat them within days rather than months. They are best after a day or so, when the flavours have settled.

For more on fridge pickles, see quick pickles.

About giardiniera under oil

Many family recipes finish giardiniera with olive oil, or keep vegetables under oil in the cupboard for months. This is where home preserving needs care. Italy's national health institute, the ISS, warns on its EpiCentro botulism page that home preserves carry more risk than industrial ones, that low-acid foods are the danger, and that vegetables to be kept in oil should first be cooked in equal parts water and vinegar and then properly pasteurised. It points readers to the official ISS guidelines for home preserving and warns never to taste food you suspect is spoiled.

If you want to try a preserve for the cupboard, follow those official guidelines exactly, and read vegetables in oil, safely first. For everything else, the fridge version above is simpler, and a good shop-bought jar is a perfectly good choice.