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I grew up on tomato relish and last year I made an incredible batch of them. We canned 12 pints and I put together some smaller jars for folks I work with. And I got good reviews. Good mostly because in the area I live, no one knew what it was. I had to explain. But it is really good, especially with a big batch of black eyed peas or purple hull peas and cornbread! Or to eat with fried okra. It was a hard transition I had to make eating salsa with my fried okra because I was far away from home. But no more!
30 large tomatoes
10 large yellow onion (or something with more bite if you prefer)
5 large green bell peppers
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground allspice
3 tbs salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
Peel and seed (or leave the seeds to have that bitter flavor if you prefer) tomatoes. Chop tomatoes, onions and peppers. Combine with rest of ingredients and cook on medium to low heat for several hours until relish turns a deep red color and is very thick. Spoon into sterile jars and seal. This is excellent on hamburger patties, leftover roast and black eyed peas. It can be made with canned tomatoes, about 7 (28 oz.) cans of a good brand, frozen chopped onions and green peppers.
Yield: 6 to 8 half pints.
Because my neighbor was hanging grocery bags on my back door, I only had to purchase the onions, the rest was given to me because he'd had about enough!
My husband discovered it was awesome putting in a roast with potatoes and carrots, the relish made a tangy addition to the same ole boring roast. And adding more flavor to the party is always a great thing.
The awesome thing about making and canning your own foods is that you know exactly went into them. There is something truly magical about slicing up vegetables to create something magnificent. Especially this recipe. It doesn't take as long to do this as it has other canning project's I've done throughout my life. This would be a tasty one for beginners because it is so easy, there is just a lot of prep work.
After we set it up, I popped open a can one night while making purple hull peas and I drizzled the relish over some zucchini as I gave the greens a good run in a pan. It was delicious!
If anyone decides to take on this little adventure, let me know how it works out, I'd love to see comments!
Food, Home Maintenance, eCookbook and Gracie
1 hour ago
2 comments:
I am excited to try this. This is my first year with a little garden in my suburban backyard and I have lots of tomatoes and green bell peppers so I will give it a try when enough are ready! Do you use this like a regular dip salsa as well or only over cooked dishes like you suggested?Thanks
I've always eaten with vegetables with hot cornbread. Taste it and see what you think it would go with and please do come back and share. I'd like to know what you come up with. Now that I'm thinking about it this would go well with corn chips. I've eaten it on black eyed pease and fried okra my whole life, the idea of using it as a dip just never occured to me. My husband uses it with a roast with vegetables and that turned out just awesome. Unlimited uses at this point! And you know, you can do a green tomato version, too. Add some heat with chilies or cayenne. But I would be interested in what your opinion on it would be.
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