How To Make Homemade Relish

How To Make Homemade Relish

Hot-dogs and relish just go hand in hand. Have you ever thought about making your own though? It’s simple to do and what else are you going to do with all of those left over cucumbers? Mine as well make a useful condiment that you can store longer than those cucumbers will last on their own. And you don’t even have to just save it for the summertime with your hot-dogs. Use your relish with some mayonnaise as a sandwich spread, or maybe add it to your meatloaf for a little extra pizazz. Add it to the top of your salmon or other white fish. It also can be used in your tartar sauce. After all tartar sauce is just mayonnaise mixed with sweet cucumber relish. So many uses beyond the hotdog for your homemade relish so here’s what you’ll need to make relish.

Ingredients

* 2 cups finely chopped cucumbers

* ½ cup finely chopped onion

* 1 tsp salt; separated

* ½ cup distilled white vinegar

* ¼ cup sugar

* 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tsp water

Directions

1. Mix cucumber, onion, and ¾ tsp salt in a sieve that’s set over a bowl. Let it drain for 3 hours. Reserve the liquid for something else or toss it. Place the cucumber mixture on paper towels and pat it with another paper towel removing as much liquid as possible.

2. Add white vinegar, sugar, and remaining ¼ tsp of salt to a pan and heat and stir over medium heat until it boils. Continue to stir over the heat until sugar is dissolved. Allow it to boil until reduced by half (about 3 to 4 minutes). 

3. Add cucumber and onion mixture to pan, simmer and stirring about two minutes.

4. Stir cornstarch mixture and add it to the pan. Simmer stirring another one minute.

5. Transfer to a bowl and chill uncovered for about half an hour.

6. Cover and keep refrigerated about one month.

Canning Relish

If you’d like to have relish all year round then you’ll want to can it. After completing all of the steps above get your cans ready. You’ll need to reheat your relish. Heat the relish to a boil, a little longer for thicker relishes. Be sure to stir to prevent burning.

Prepare your jars for canning:

* Sanitize jars – this can be done in the dishwasher.

* Fill a canner half full of water and heat with the lid on to a boil

* Put the lids in a boiling pot of water.

* Fill the jars with the relish to about ¼ to ½ inch of the top of the jar. 

* Put the lid and ring on the jar and hand tighten

* Set in canner of boiling water and make sure they are covered with water and allow to boil for ten minutes.

* Remove jars carefully from the canner and allow to cool in a draft free area. This could take overnight to cool completely. Make sure not to bump jars together.