Pan Yan Pickle recipe
Jan 05, 2010
*PLEASE NOTE - this is a very old blog post - WE NO LONGER SELL PAN YAN PICKLE - Thank you :D *
Happy New Year, at present it's a very pretty one although I would like the snow to go fairly soon.
I was contacted by quite a few people last year when a jar of pan yan pickle was shown in the background during Kirsties Homemade Christmas. I was initiated into the story of the lost recipe and the 'to date' failure of Premier Foods to reproduce the product once so familiar to so many. I promised to investigate and eventually blog.
The jar behind me was made by Rose who sells in the local market. She says her recipe is one passed down to her from her mother, its main constituents are: spiced vinegar, apples, sugar and saltanas. I searched online and discovered there are variations on this recipe type using curry powder etc
The original recipe taken from ageneric jar of Pan Yan Pickle shown 19.03.08 on mailonline. is as follows
Rutabagar (swede), sugar, apples, carrots, vinegar, thickener (modified starch) gerkins, acetic acid, peppers, onions, spices, colour (caramel), flavourings.
As I am told the pickle was a fine dice one, I suspect the swede/carrots etc were bought in pre-diced to provide the texture, there would be a background of apple (hence its preponderance in the other recipes ) within an spiced emulsion/sauce. The recipe would be fairly easy to unpick if I had tasted it.
I like a challenge and if you can tell me your memories of its flavour as precisely as possible I would be happy to have a go at reconstituting it. This comes with the caviat that I don't buy in pre-prepared vegetables so the texture won't be accurate.
Once I have sufficient feedback to try and work out the 'spices' and 'flavourings' I will make a batch and put it on the website so it can be sampled. If it manages to replicate the pickle then I will put the recipe in the book and/or offer it to Premier Foods as it is essentially a pickle for mass production.
If this is too much bother you may like to try Fortnum's pickle (I was given a jar at Christmas......you have to check out the opposition) Ingredients (not in full): sugar, vinegar, swede, parsnip, carrot, turnip, apple etc a similar texture (pre prep veg etc) to that described.
I'll be fascinated to see what the response is.........over to you, this is definitely something I can't do alone!
******************** *UPDATE* May 2013 ..... http://cranfieldsfoods.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/panyan-pickle-reconstructed/ Better late than never! ********************
61 comments
It was a similar article that gave me the list of ingredients listed on my entry last year, the article is misleading in so far as the main ingredient is swede not apple and it does not list the ingredients as the original article did. Unfortunately a list of ingredients on the jar does not give the method or the small spice touches below 2% by volume all it gives is the relative volumes of ingredients to each other. I tried a batch using the ingredients as listed and was disappointed with the result, I am sure many others have tried too. If you want to have a go yourself the ingredients are listed at the beginning of this thread.
I obviously read all the comments before posting them and hopefully one day a break through will occur, in the meantime happy hunting. Best Wishes Victoria
I agree with Iain that Barton’s Pickle is as Branston used to be. I stopped buying Branston a couple of years ago after a jar with a vaguely medicated taste. Then I bought a jar a few weeks ago, only to find that the root vegetable chunks were very undercooked. Trouble is, I get the impression that Barton’s have withdrawn their pickle, certainly it is not mentioned on their website and I haven’t seen it in (e.g.) Waitrose for ages.
Ah yes…I too remember Pan Yan Pickle well and indeed fondly too. They also made Pan Yan sauce which was really delicious and like no other, in that in was somewhat “Sweet”, without that overwhelming sharp aftertaste of a strong vinegar ie Malt etc. For want of a better way of putting it, Pan Yan was more subtle and a real pleasure as a condiment, rather than being so overpowering..it accompanied and complimented whatever you were having it alongside with FAR better than anything which is available nowadays.
As folk have recalled, Pan Yan pickle / sauce was a lighter shade than others such as Branston. I can remember that the sauce itself was slightly thinner and more freely flowing than other ones on the market, which had a thicker consistency.
I so miss the Pan Yan range, and in particular would love to be able to buy the sauce again…and indeed the pickle too. So many things which were genuinely good are no longer available..a whole way of life seems to have disappeared…we’ve lost such a lot ,and that rather saddens me.