Pickled Thistle. Ouch that tastes good!

Wearing THICK gloves we harvested then trimmed the thickest looking Marsh Thistle stems we could find and peeled the skin and outer layers using a cheese slicer (making absolutely sure all the spines had been removed).
We then chopped these into pieces, washed and sautéed for a few minutes to slightly caramelise them. 

Next we heated 60/40 water and white wine vinegar, simmering for a few minutes, poured into hot, sterilised jars adding our thistle pieces, a tablespoon of honey, a little salt, one or two cloves of garlic chopped Clove Root, Ramsons seeds and Alexanders seeds. 

These were left for a day or so to pickle. They were delicious! It’s a lot of effort, granted but worth the trouble as they have a great taste, similar to artichoke. 

Once pickled you can also add thistle pieces to jars of oil and I think this is how I like them best!