Today, I finally switched over to my fall decorations, so I feel like making caramel corn or one of my fall recipes . . . but I first I want to share my family’s cucumber relish recipe with you. This is the canning time of year as produce is either ripe out of your garden, or it’s really cheap in the stores! 
I only can 3 things: jalapeno salsa, cucumber relish, and applesauce. I’m not a huge canner; but I have to do something with the overabundance of tomatoes we get, we like to go apple picking and make applesauce as a family, and my mom tells me that relish tastes much better that is homemade.
I really wouldn’t know if homemade relish tastes better than store bought relish as I don’t like any thing that has been pickled; but my husband likes it, and I grew too many cucumbers one year as well, so I made relish out of them. It took us 5 years to run out of my stash of relish, so I made a batch of it again this year. I had planted my own cucumbers, but they did lousy in part to my terrible work in the garden. So I bought 4 large cucumbers at Aldi, and those cucumbers along with the 3 cucumbers I had were enough for a batch of relish.
This recipe is my grandma’s recipe. My mom grew up on a farm, and they had a huge garden and canned tons of food so that they wouldn’t starve in the winter. So although I am not an expert canner, I call my mom anytime I have a question.
Cucumber relish is relatively easy to make; in fact, it is much easier to make than jalapeno salsa. The recipe makes about 6 pints of relish. I already had chopped and frozen some red and green peppers, and I had all the other ingredients on hand, so for me the out-of-pocket cost for the 6 pints was $2.00. If you are in a farming community where you are able to receive extra produce for free or you grow your own produce, the cost is even cheaper (and the taste is supposedly much better!)
- 3 quarts ground up cucumbers peeled
- 4 onions diced
- 2 red sweet peppers chopped
- 2 green peppers chopped
- 1 hot pepper chopped
- 1/4 c. salt
- 2 cups cider vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 2 teaspoons mustard seed
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In my food processor, I chopped all my vegetables and put them in a big stockpot (around 6 quarts). You can also shred the cucumbers if you do not have a food chopper/processor.
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Add enough water to cover the vegetables.
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Add the salt and stir.
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Let this mixture stand overnight.
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Drain the vegetables.
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Add vinegar, sugar, curry powder, and mustard seed.
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Cook for 15 minutes at simmering boil.
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After cooking, you can add green food coloring to look more like store-bought relish, if desired. If you want to avoid food coloring and be all-natural, that is fine too--it just will not be such a bright green color.
Add the relish to hot, clean canning jars. Screw on the lids. Put in a water canner with boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Remove from hot water. The inner seals should "pop" so that you know they are sealed. This relish will stay good for years as long as the seal is not broken!
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- This is the salt I use for relish.
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- Chop the vegetables and put them in a big pot.
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- Add water until vegetables are covered.
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- Drain the vegetables the next morning.
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- Add the other ingredients and cook.
This sounds good. I only have one successful cucumber plant this year – only one – but that bad boy produces 10 to 12 cucumbers EVERY WEEK. I have had a bowl of marinated cucumbers continually in my frig for 6 weeks, I think. So, I’m curious, can this be made for the frig where it would last a few weeks? I’m not yet ready for canning, but I do like frig cooking. Thanks!
I know that when I open the jar, I have it in my refrigerator for a few months at least–it has that cider vinegar that keeps it from spoiling. I think it is canned because most people do not want 6 jars in their refrigerator. So you could make it and keep it all in your frig if you have the room–and you might go through it quicker than me, or just cut the recipe in half and put it in quart jars.
Well, that makes sense. I may just make it and do everything but the bathing. Just cook it on the stove and put it into jars and put the jars in the frig. I’d probably make a half recipe.
Well, when you think how the old-timers would make pints/quarts of relish and pickles at a time and put them in their cellars, you can see why they would can (plus they didn’t have nice big refrigerators like we do today.) My grandma got rid of hundreds of canning jars probably 10 years ago–I took probably a dozen quarts and a dozen pints, but she had so many up in her attic from her canning days. But an open can of my relish has been in my frig for sometimes practically forever! Tell me how it goes!
Gosh, you’re right. We have it easy! I was just checking old Mr. Only Cuke tonight and he has probably 2 dozen decent baby cucumbers growing. He’s freakish, I’m telling you. Anyway, I will most likely give it a try soon. Thanks!
Impressive! How does it taste compared to pickle relish? I recently had corn relish and really liked it, even though I’m not a big pickle relish fan.
Since I don’t like it–I’m not completely sure, but I think it’s about the same since pickles are just pickled cucumbers, and it’s the vinegar, etc. that pickles the cucumbers/relish. So it might not be your cup of tea :). I’ve never had corn relish–I’ll have to try it. I might like it too.
We’re not huge relish fans here. I would really like to can more food. When I was young, my mom canned every year. It stopped when they started their business, but she’s back at it now mostly with tomatoes. I love the idea of being more self-sufficient.
I’m not either–I make it mainly for when we grill out for our guests. My mom says it tastes way better, and I think it is cheaper as well! I would like to can more as well, but I would have to buy most of the produce. My mom and grandma had their produce right from their garden.
My God, I wasn’t successful planting cucumber last year. Maybe it was placed in a too hot area. Need to try again.
Mine didn’t do well this year either 🙁
Thank you! I make mine mainly for guests.
This looks really delicious! Might have to make some myself!
Let me know how it goes if you do!
Hmm, Ive never heard of cucumber relish. Maybe Ill have to try this. I will have to learn how to can first thought! lol
It really is easy–and with pints, you don’t need a water boiling canner–you just need a pot that is at least 1 1/2″ deeper than the cans as the water needs to be boiling 1″ above the top of the cans. It is sometimes hard to find a tall enough pot for the quarts, hence getting the water boiling canner. They are reasonable on Amazon–I got mine from a garage sale!
This is a new one for me. Never tried it but it sounds interesting.
Stopping by from Good Tastes Tuesday! Thanks for coming by and linking up this week. http://www.sherrylwilson.com/good-tastes-tuesday/
Thanks for checking it out! I’m glad I could link up there.
This looks wonderful! I love all the ingredients!
Thanks for linking up to Good Tastes Tuesday. See you next week!
Thanks for hosting the link-up and for checking the recipe out!
I have never tried cucumber relish, but will definitely do so now. Thanks for linking up with “Try a New Recipe Tuesday.” I hope you will be able to join us again this week. http://our4kiddos.blogspot.com/2013/09/try-new-recipe-tuesday-september-24.html
You’re welcome–I have a recipe ready to go!
I’m making this today! Will have to put it on the blog how it turns out. I did find using a smoothie maker to chop things might not be so good, LOL, but it actually looks okay boiling in the pot. Just had to share 🙂
Let me know how it goes!!
Oh my gosh, it tastes great! I attempted to halve the recipe, but I measured my cukes just cut up into chunks before chopping so I think I actually thirded it because I got 2 small jars out of it for the frig. Next time I’ll process cukes first and then measure. So it is a little on the sweet side but that’s okay with me. Hubby is funny with spices, so I didn’t add the curry or mustard seed but I still really like it. It took me about 6 of my garden cukes, they are medium size.
I’m glad you like it. My mom says it’s way better than store boughten relish–she puts at least the mustard seed in, but maybe not the curry. She also doesn’t put in the hot pepper.
Oh, I did have to leave out the hot pepper for hubby too. He loves good food but is funny about the spices. I think he’ll really enjoy it. I might try the mustard seed next time.