Please share relish recipes!

July 14, 2013 12:33 PM

Last year I played around with making refrigerator pickles, but this year I want to be bolder and try making some tasty relishes etc. with all the awesome produce that's in season. So have at it, cooks of askme! Give me your pickles, your relishes, your chutneys, your chili sauces! Recipes, advice and inspiring resources appreciated. Pressure canning isn't an option but I do want to make proper 'canned' stuff as well as refrigerator preserves. Thanks!
posted by sevenyearlurk to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

Try out everything else suggested below first, and then at the end of your growing season make some green tomato mincemeat. Because--spicy-sweet delicious pies out of green tomatoes? That's crazy talk! This is a pretty simple recipe, which is how I like to cook. There are fancier versions out their, if you fancy ;-)
posted by drlith at 12:45 PM on July 14, 2013

Best answer: I highly, highly recommend Smitten Kitchen's sandwich slaw. I've used it as part of a quick lunch on a baguette with goat cheese, inside spring rolls, as a salad topping... And it's pretty flexible--you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.
posted by Empidonax at 12:51 PM on July 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

We make jars and jars of zucchini relish every year, just using the Ball Blue Book recipe, and it's one of our favorite canned items. Plus, major points as a way to use all the big zucchini you can get. I love it with bread and sharp cheddar.

Also, spicy dilly beans with lots of garlic.
posted by purenitrous at 1:43 PM on July 14, 2013

It may be too late for this year, but pickled walnuts are a wonderful relish. Just don't try to eat a whole one; a morsel is all you need. Mrs Beeton's book has a real recipe, but here's an outline:

Pick green walnuts before the shell has formed (stick a needle in to check). Black and English walnuts are equally fine. If the shell is hard, try earlier next year.

Make strong brine: boil 8oz salt in 40oz water. Let it cool.

Prick the walnuts with a fork. I make three or four fork-marks in each walnut.

Cover the nuts in the brine for six days, stirring occasionally. Don't use a metal container.

Spread the nuts on a tray in the sun and leave them to go black (half a day to one day) turning occasionally.

Put the black nuts back in fresh brine for three more days.

Make a preserving vinegar: for each 20 oz vinegar (I use cider vinegar) boil with 1 oz peppercorns, 1 oz allspice and 1 teaspoon of salt. Let it cool.

Fill glass jars 3/4 full of walnuts and cover with the vinegar.

The pickled walnuts are ready to eat in a few weeks. Mrs Beeton says they keep for months, but I have some still delicious after five years,
posted by anadem at 3:12 PM on July 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

If you don't have a copy already, you need the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

All the recipes I've made from it (and I've made lots) have worked. And it has useful technique comments, so you can get a sense of how sensible random internet recipes are.
posted by leahwrenn at 3:20 PM on July 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Have you checked out Food in Jars? I've shared a bunch of canning and preserving recipes over there over the last 4+ years, and also recommend worthy canning books and other sites.
posted by Marusula at 3:43 PM on July 14, 2013 [3 favorites]

If you hurry, you might be able to catch the tail end of the rhubarb season and make rhubarb relish. Here's the recipe I use, from a rhubarb AskMe.
posted by Specklet at 3:53 PM on July 14, 2013

In addition to the Ball book, I highly recommend The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich.
posted by mudpuppie at 5:17 PM on July 14, 2013

Seconding Empidonax on the Smitten Kitchen sandwich slaw. I made it today, and it's already good. Only had carrots and kirby cukes on hand, but they are tasty on their own. Already planning my next batch to include more veg, and perhaps some red pepper flakes for zing. I'm not a big pickle person per se, but find this stuff so oddly compelling, I eat it right out of the jar. Highly recommend the julienne tool linked to in the post, also. It made quick work of an otherwise tedious process, and it looks so festive.
posted by Talullah at 5:32 PM on July 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Another, most fantastic zucchini relish recipe: Zippy Zucchini Relish
Everyone in my family loves it, from the 5 year olds to the 75 year olds.
posted by bluebelle at 8:02 PM on July 14, 2013

Thanks to you I've been thinking constantly of relishes for the past day! I came back to add that marinated mushrooms are wonderful, and really perk up a boring sandwich or salad. I just made Martha's and they're dead-easy and were fantastic on day 2. Also, jalapeno jelly is a good way to preserve hot peppers and is delicious with brie or cream cheese and crackers. I don't eat meat, but I suspect it would be delicious on a burger or hot dog or whatever. I made it using the recipe in the Pomona Pectin box. And yes yes yes to dilly green beans.
posted by Empidonax at 9:40 AM on July 15, 2013

Red Onion and Golden Raisin Jam
You probably have regular balsamic vinegar lying around. Do get the white stuff if you can; it'll worth it for the resultant color.
posted by Su at 12:59 PM on July 15, 2013