Vegetable Relish, Pickling & "Catchup"

Most of us tend to think of relish and ketchup as something you put on hotdogs, but there are many variations on these favorites, especially is you make your own. I got out my copy of the American Women's Cook Book, which has a taped binding and a missing title page, but I'm guessing it's from the 40's. There were so many great recipes to share, but as far as the processing and canning I'm going to send you to a site from the experts.

You can download the Complete Guide to Home Canning for free at the National Center for Home Food Preservation: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

Everything you need to know about processing your harvest is in these documents. It's important to be up to date on the correct temperatures and times. Food poisoning is no fun, and can be very serious, especially for children and the elderly.

Beet Relish

4 cups chopped cooked beets

4 cups chopped cabbage

1/2 cup grated horseradish

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 cups vinegar

1 cup sugar

Combine the vegetables, horseradish, salt and pepper. Boil the vinegar, dissolve the sugar in it and add to the vegetables. Cook until tender, then process in jars. Makes 5 pints.

Cranberry Catchup

1 pound onions

4 pounds cranberries

2 cups water

4 cups sugar

2 cups vinegar

1 tbsp. ground cloves

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. allspice

1 tbsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

Peel onions and chop very fine. Add cranberries and water; cook until tender. Rub through a sieve. Add remaining ingredients and boil until thick, stirring occasionally. Pour into hot jars and seal according to recommendations. Makes about 3 pints. Serve with poultry or meat.

Corn Relish

18 ears sweet corn

2 large green peppers

2 sweet red peppers

1 small cabbage

4 onions

1 cup chopped celery

1 quart vinegar

2 cups brown sugar

2 tbsp. salt

3 tbsp. mustard powder

Cut corn from cobs. Seed peppers and chop with cabbage and onions. Mix vegetables together, add remaining ingredients and cook until corn in tender, 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pack in hot jars and process according to USDA directions.

Tomato Catchup

1 peck ripe tomatoes

3 onions

1 small clove garlic

2 red peppers, seeded

1 1/2 bay leaves

1 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp. whole allspice

1 tbsp. celery seed

1 tsp. cayenne

2 inches cinnamon stick

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups vinegar

Boil first 6 ingredients until soft. Strain through sieve. Add spices (tied in a cloth bag) and sugar to tomato pulp and boil rapidly, stirring occasionally until thick or quantity is reduced one half. Remove spices, add vinegar and boil 10 minutes longer. Pour into hot sterilized jars according to USDA instructions.

On OFL we have a forum members recipe for freezer pickles:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/pickles.html

~Brenda