Nothing fancy, just a humble homemade sweet pickle relish. Â But it’s downright good. Â In fact, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Â It adds a wonderful dimension to your sandwiches, hot dogs, pasta and potato salads. Â So easy to make with instructions for canning so you can enjoy it all the year long.
This Summer I canned up a storm!
I have a variety of goodies I want to share with you, and we’ll start with this one. Â This relish is simple to make. Â You can use a food processor to chop the vegetables, but that can often result in a more mushy texture. Â I prefer to chop them by hand, or by knife rather. ;)
Let’s get started!
Peel the cucumbers and thinly slice them lengthwise. Â Slice them into strips, discarding the inner strip of seeds. Â Very finely dice the cucumbers.
Very finely dice the onions. Â You can use a food processor, just don’t let the onions get mushy.
Very finely dice the red bell peppers.
Place the diced vegetables in a large bowl along with the salt. Â Cover with water and let it sit for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Put the sugar, vinegar and spices in a large stock pot and bring it to a boil. Â Reduce the heat to a low boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Drain the cucumber mixture in a colander, thoroughly rinse, and drain again. Â Add the mixture to the stock pot. Â Ignore the metal tea gadget in the picture. Â I was originally going to let it simmer with the allspices berries inside so they could be easily removed afterwards, but that’s pretty pointless. Â The 4 allspices berries are plenty easy to fish out later on, or just leave them in, like I ended up doing. Â They look cool in the bottles!
Return to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Â Discard the bay leaf.
Ladle the hot relish into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Â Wipe the rims of the jars clean and seal tightly with the lids. Â Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
Sealed jars will keep in a cool, dark place for at one year. Â If the seal has broken, the relish will keep in the fridge for one month.
- 2½ lbs cucumbers, peeled, center row of seeds removed, and finely diced
- 1 large sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Walla Walla)
- 1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
- ¼ cup kosher or pickling salt (neither of these have additives which is important for canning)
- 3 cups white granulated sugar
- 2 cups cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons celery seeds
- 4 whole allspice berries
- 1 bay leaf
- Place the diced cucumbers, onion, and red bell pepper in a large mixing bowl. Combine with the salt and pour water over the mixture until covered. Let sit for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Drain the cucumber mixture in a colander, rinse thoroughly with water, and drain again.
- In a large stock pot, add the sugar, vinegar, and spices and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the drained cucumber mixture and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
- Ladle the hot relish into sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and seal tightly with the lids.
- Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
- Sealed jars will store in a cool, dark place for a year. If the seal is broken, the relish will keep in the fridge for a month.
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James says
Just finished the recipe so I haven’t tasted it but it smells delicious… made 5.5 12 Oz. Jars… the 2.5 lie cucumbers was weight after seeing them… I also added a green pepper to give it a little more green color
Mili says
Really, there is no way for 2.5 pounds of cucumbers plus an onion and pepper to make up 4 pints of relish. Use a water displacement process to make the measurements … after removing the cucumber skins and seeds, I think you’d be lucky for this recipe to make three pints!