Charming and I
are not particularly wild about cucumbers.
However, we had one “volunteer” cucumber plant that came up where we had
planted them last year. This little
plant is quite a performer. We’ve
already pulled about ten cucumbers off of this plant. Each cucumber has been at least a foot
long. We used some of them in our
salads, but it would be difficult for the two of us to eat this many cucumbers.
Last year I
canned more dill pickles than we will probably ever eat, so I definitely did
not want to add more of the same. So I
grabbed my trusty “Ball Blue Book of Preserving” to see if there was
anything else I could make with the excess cucumbers.
Aha! Sweet pickle relish on Page 52! I routinely buy sweet relish to mix in with
tuna. (I must have some natural aversion
to mayonnaise, as it has made me physically ill every time I’ve ever eaten it
so I don’t purchase, make, or even look at mayonnaise.) Sweet relish is a great alternative to jazz
up tuna.
So I set out to
make the relish. After a couple hours of
chopping the cucumbers, onion, and green/yellow/orange peppers, I had the
makings for the relish. I added the
required amount of salt and waited the two hours called for in the recipe. Then I drained, rinsed, and drained the mixture
to get rid of some of the salt. I heated
mustard seed, celery seed, vinegar and lots of sugar in a large pot and brought
it to a boil. I then dumped in the
cucumber mixture and simmered it for ten minutes. After that, it was just a matter of packing
it into the clean, warmed jars, capping the jars with lids, tightening the
bands and then processing the batch in a boiling-water canner for ten
minutes.
Voila! I had seven pints of home made relish! I couldn’t resist the urge to try some of
this yesterday in my lunch-time tuna. I
fully expected it to be inferior to the name brand that I normally purchase. However, to my surprise this stuff was
great! I think it’s even better than the
relish I used to buy from the supermarket.
Note that I say, “used to buy”. The
final product is definitely worth growing the cucumbers and spending a couple
of hours chopping the vegetables. From
now on, I fully intend to plant cucumbers every year so that I can make enough
of this tasty stuff to last me throughout the rest of my life!
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| These are not the actual vegetables I used to make my relish. Originally, I had six cucumbers of this size that I grew in my garden. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to put the SD card back in my camera after I finished my last post. Since I can't find the cable that connects my camera to my computer, the picture is floating around somewhere inside my camera never to be seen in all it's glory. |
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| The, however, is the actual picture of my relish as it sits in a salt bath prior to canning. The camera does not really do justice to the beautiful greens and reds of the cucumbers and peppers. |
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| Seven pints of absolutely wonderful sweet relish! |
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