Great Uses for a Great Sweet Pickle Relish

You may not realize the bountiful purposes of a great sweet pickle relish…but, its the basis of so many great recipes that you will need this sweet pickle relish added to your pantry.

A tour of a local Amish farm this week reminded me that it was the perfect time to add a great sweet pickle relish to my pantry. Lots of beautiful organic cucumbers in different varieties came home with me.

I was off on a mission to can it. Some of my recipes that I wanted to try took up to 5 days and a simpler and quicker version was more what I had in mind.

As I looked through ingredients, I blended two that gave me what I thought would be the taste that would work best for all the many uses I would have.

So, with peppers, cucumbers and green and red peppers locally purchased, I was off and running.

Equipment Needed to Make Sweet Pickle Relish

Here’s the equipment that I find helpful to have when making this recipe:

Here’s my version of the recipe that is a great basic to use with hot dogs or in so many other great recipes!

Sweet Pickle Relish

A great home canned relish for so many uses!

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course Canning Vegetables

Cuisine American

Servings 8 half pints

Equipment

• 1 food processor
• 1 cutting board
• 1 chef's knife
• spoon
• 1 2 quart measuring bowl
• 1 2 cup measuring cup
• 1 water bath canner
• 1 jar lifter tool
• 1/2 pt canning jars, lids and rings
• Stove

Ingredients

  

• 2 quarts seeded, cucumbers, finely diced
• 2 C sweet onions, finely diced
• 1 C red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 C green bell pepper, finely diced
• 4 T pickling salt
• 3 1/2 C sugar
• 1 T celery seed
• 1 T mustard seed
• 2 C apple cider vinegar

Instructions

 

• Wash cucumbers and trim ends off.
  
• Cut in half and scoop out seeds with a spoon.
  
• NOTE: To get the 2 quarts seeded and diced cucumbers, I add cucumbers to the food processor in small batches and then to the 2 quart measuring bowl after each processing until I get the exact measurement. ALL cucumbers vary in size so giving a weight or count is more difficult.
  
• Cut cucumbers in 2-3" sections and add to a food processor. Pulse 10-13 times to get the finely diced consistency without turning into mush.

  Add diced cucumbers to a large glass bowl.
  
• Wash green and red peppers, remove seeds and cut into equal sections. Add to food processor and pulse to same consistency as cucumbers.

  Add diced peppers to bowl with cucumbers.
  
• Remove outer peel and ends from onion and cut into equal sections and again, finely mince in food processor to same consistency as cucumbers and peppers.

  Add to cucumbers and peppers.
  
• Sprinkle 4 T of pickling salt over the vegetables and mix together.
  
• Cover with with cold water and let stand for 2 hours.
  
• While vegetables are sitting, prepare your half pint jars for canning by washing thoroughly.
• Following water bath canning guidelines, fill the canner about half way up with water to begin with a rack to hold the jars in the bottom and begin heating the canner on the stove.
• Add half pints into water in your water bath canner to begin heating them so they are hot when packing the hot relish.

  You may also run through your dishwasher instead of adding to the water bath canner so that they are hot when the hot relish is packed.

  Add rings only to a small saucepan and heat them on a low heat.

  ***NOTE: no longer is it recommended to heat lids!
• Drain vegetables in a colander in the sink. Rinse and drain thoroughly.

  ***NOTE: It's easier to have two colanders and move from one colander to another to ensure that you have rinsed and drained all of it thoroughly.
  
• Combine sugar, spices and vinegar in a stainless or ceramic lined pot–not aluminum–and bring to a simmer, stirring for about 5 minutes until sugar is dissolved.
• Carefully add rinsed and drained vegetables and stir.

  ***Be careful not to splash the hot vinegar mix when adding!

  Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
  
• On a heat resistant surface or towel lined counter, place hot jars on a level surface to fill.
  
• After vegetables have simmered for 10 minutes, add a jar funnel to the top of each jar and pack the relish into the hot jars leaving 1/4" headspace. A ladle is helpful when packing jars.
• Remove air bubbles with a non metallic spatula.
• With a damp cloth, wipe the top of each jar and threads to make sure that they are clean and will not cause sealing issues.
  
• Add the lid and the ring to each jar, not twisting too tightly when adding the rings.
• With the jar lifter, add the hot jars to the rack into the hot water in the water bath canner, making sure that there is 1-2" of water covering the jars.

  Add boiling water, if necessary.

  **An electric tea kettle is great if boiling water is needed for canning.
  
• Put the lid on the canner and bring the water to a boil.
• When the water is at a rolling boil, begin the processing time. For this recipe the processing time is 10 minutes.
• When processing time is over, turn the heat off and remove the lid. Let jars stand in canner for about 10 minutes before removing them with the jar lifter and setting them on a dry towel, 1-2" apart to cool. Make sure they are free from drafts when cooling.
  
• As they cool, you should hear a ping that the lids have sealed.
• Leave jars to cool for 12-24 hours before moving.
• Check to make sure that all of the lids have "sealed" and are indented. If you have one that doesn't seal, just add to your refrigerator to use first.
• Label date and contents on each jar lid.
• Store relish in a cool, dry and dark place.

  Relish is best quality to use within one year.
• Remember to always refrigerate relish after opening the jar! Enjoy!

Notes

This relish is a great ingredient to make during summer when there’s an abundance of fresh cucumbers, onions and peppers. 

Relish is a great addition to potato salad, hot dogs, tuna salad, egg salad, macaroni salad, remoulade sauce, tartar sauce, and thousand island dressing among other great recipes.

It’s always a favorite! enjoy!

NOTE: this will make 8-9 half pint jars of relish.

Keyword canning sweet pickle relish, sweet pickle relish

Sweet pickle relish is always in my pantry.

Although I love trying to find a “sugar free” version, those with sugar can better. A fresh canned relish is a favorite ingredient in so many dishes.

Great Uses for Sweet Pickle Relish

There are so many great uses this great sweet pickle relish. Here are a few:

• Potato Salad
• Tuna Salad– Add a few T to taste to your favorite recipe.
• Thousand Island Dressing– add equal parts relish and mayonnaise and then add ketchup to taste.
• Homemade Tartar Sauce – equal parts relish and mayonnaise.
• Remoulade– 1 T relish, 1 C mayonnaise, 2 T lemon juice, salt to taste, 2 T dijon mustard, and 1 T chopped capers, if desired.
• Great topping for ham and beans
• And…Always a Great Topping for a Hot Dog!

If you have other favorite uses for relish, please feel free to share them!

Hope you’ll give this recipe a try while produce is abundant now.

Happy Canning!

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