….Relish photography….I couldn't avoid the pun because I do relish my time spent with a camera in my hand and also took photos of relish making….relish photography – TaDaa. 🙂 The last time I got together with some friends I mentioned in passing that I would be making relish soon. "Relish?" they responded, "You make your own relish?". Yes I do – Glassford family recipe passed down through the generations. My family only eats the homemade kind and that mixed with the family tomato butter makes for the perfect hamburger. My mom/me relish making afternoon quickly turned into a group lesson where we quadrupled the recipe on how to make relish. Mom passed on her years of canning experience, told stories of the first year she got her grinder – it involved killing a cow and health guidelines changing …. 😐 (as I said old time farming family), and we enjoyed the girl time and a couple of glasses of wine.
I will pass on the recipe but cannot guarantee the results. It is one of those pinch of this, dash of that recipes that mom got from following Grandma Glassford with a pencil and paper. The details have not firmed up much in 40 years but the relish is amazing. 🙂 Unfortunately my tomato butter the next day did not work out quite as well. NONE of my jars sealed which meant starting from the beginning – argh!
Glassford Family Relish
5 cups cucumbers finely chopped or ground (works best if your grinder has enough power to operate a small airplane – or at least a rototiller 😉
4 cups onions chopped
Soak overnight in a brine (1/2 cup picking salt and water to cover veg.)
Drain and rinse well to get rid of the salt. (This is a texture thing – but definitely you do not want salty relish)
Add:
1 1/2 cups apple peeled and chopped fine
1/4 of a sweet red pepper chopped fine
1 cup celery chopped fine
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup mustard seed
2 cups vinegar
Bring to a boil
Add a paste of 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup dry mustard (mom doesn't use as much as the recipe calls for) 1 tsp tumeric. Mix with cold water to make a thin paste then add a little of the hot mixture to it. Add to the pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until thickened.
Pour into the jars and seal. Voila you have relish, it is that easy.
Makes about 12 – 250ml jars.
We tried a lit candle to help with the onion tears – can't say that it worked. 😉
The boys, bored because this is taking much longer then they thought, drinking beers and eating peapods. Peas are like candy in our house – the kids can't get enough of them.
We decided that perhaps the candle and wine might help with the onion tears. 😉
Mom embraced her supervisory role.
We forgot to feed the kids so emergency $5 pizzas were brought in.
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Yummy, the final result – absolutely worth it.
