I love to have Pickle Relish on hand for hot dogs, tarter sauce, and hamburgers. You’ll have to offer this Sweet Pickle Relish when you serve beef. It’s a wonderful compliment.
I remember the first year I preserved this Pickle Relish recipe. It was late in the season and I was soooo tired of canning. I had picked up a half bushel of cucumbers for Dill Pickles when I noticed the farmer had a few over grown cucumbers for sale. I ask him what they used such large cucumbers for. His dear wife piped up and said, “For the best Sweet Pickle Relish this side of Kansas.” (I never could figure out what Kansas had to do with it. Oh, well!)
She plopped the cucumbers into a bag… and gave them to me free. She jotted down the recipe on a piece of paper and stuck it into the bag with the cucumbers. Now… what was I to do… let them got to waste?
Oh my… what a blessing in disguise. I’ve not missed very many years that I did not bottle this wonderful Pickle Relish recipe. Try it… you’ll love it.
Sweet Pickle Relish
15 to 20 large over grown cucumbers
4 Large Green Peppers
3 Large Red Peppers
5 Large Onions
Grind all together and boil 10 minutes in 3 quarts of water… then drain well.
Add 4 Teaspoons of Mustard Seed
1 full Teaspoon of Tumeric
3/4 Teaspoon of Ground Cloves
3/4 Teaspoon Celery Seed
4 Cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Salt (I use canning salt or uniodized salt… so it won’t turn milky looking.)
5 Cups of White Vinegar.
Bring all the ingredients to a boil, turn heat way down, and cook for 10 more minutes.
Fill pint canning jars and place on canning lids and rings. Process in a waterbath canner or steam canner for 15 minutes. I don’t process it longer than that because of all the sugar and vinegar in the recipe… and it was also pre-cooked. I promise… you won’t get a bug and die.
TIP: My grinder is long gone. I use a faster method and it works great. I cut all of my veggies up in chunks. I place them in a blender and fill it with water. I have a pulse button on my blender and I pulse it 5 or 6 times and waa laa…. chopped veggies. Pour everything into a strainer to remove all the water. You may have about 5 or 6 blender loads… but it’s still faster than the old grinder.
When I make Tarter Sauce for fish, I use Miracle Whip and my homemade Sweet Pickle Relish. I have go a bit heavy on the relish ya know. Mmmmm good!
Happy Canning and Preserving!
Til Later,
Kathy Griffiths – Insightful Nana
P.S. You can split the recipe in two just before you bottle it. Add 1/2 cup of prepared mustard to one half of the recipe for a tasty variation.
very good publish, i actually love this web site, keep on it
Do you take the skins off the cucumbers or leave it on. It doesn’t say. Thank you
Can this be used right away or do you need to let it sit awhile before using?
This was my first time to make and can relish. Followed recipe but I didn’t drain cukes after grinding but did drain well after cooking them about three times. Then after adding other items sugar, spices, etc to cook 10 more minutes and put in jars, it was a bit runny, or I should say had more liquid then I thought, is this normal? I got 9 pints, that was good but when I put jars in water bath, I thought I could get all 9 jars in but jars were touching and didn’t know if this was allowed so I pulled oune jar out and shortly after I pulled it out it popped ( sealed) is the jar safe to pu on shelf or should I boil for 15 minutes?
what is “prepared mustard”. The spice of powdered mustard or mustard from a bottle?
I made this recipe yesterday, and it is delish!!! I cut the recipe in half (and a good thing – a whole batch would not have fit in my dutch oven). I also substituted some peppers from my garden for the green bell peppers – I used a mix of jalapenos, and both hot and sweet wax peppers. And the addition of the mustard is brilliant – next time I make it I may do it all that way! From my half recipe I got 9 1/2 half pint jars.
I was wondering are you using pickling cucumbers or the variety from the grocery store. I want to make a batch of these, but my cucumbers are all different sizes. I have about 16 pounds and I was wondering how many pounds you thought this was.
Thanks!!
Grind all together? As in a blender?? New to canning and so confused.
So I made your recipe tonight with a couple of modifications. I put in a little less red pepper, and substituted it with a little bit of celery. I cut the sugar in half and made the other half Splenda (as I’m a low carber and it cut the carbs considerably, and the Splenda site says its okay to can that way, that the half of sugar will give any needed chemical reaction). But all in all it is substantially YOUR recipe and you are right, it is delicious. I took your suggestion and made half with mustard. I got 7 pints of straight pickle relish, and 8 pints of mustard relish (my cucumbers must have been a little bigger), and both taste wonderful. Thanks again!
I’m trying this recipe tomorrow. Its the only one I’ve found that doesn’t make you soak the cucumbers for a few hours, which would really mess me up trying to get it done after work. I think I’ll take your suggestion and do have with the mustard, my hubby likes a good hot dog relish. Hope it turns out and thanks!
Yes… .you drain all the water off after you have chopped them in the blender. Then… follow the recipe… More controlled this way. I get about 12 pints out of this recipe.
Yes… strain all the water off at first… then follow the recipe. I get 12 from this batch.
How many Pints do you get out of this recipie?
Also, if you use a blender and fill it up with water. After blending do you strain and then cook for ten minutes?