From the Garden...Home Canned Pepper Relish

Here is some more easy canning for you.  Pepper relish is delicious with burgers, dogs, grilled brats and meats, etc.

This recipe is not thick and jam-like; it is simply pickled sweet peppers with onions.  You can do your dicing ahead; after that, it only took a short time to can this.  You must use sterilized jars because of the short canning time…which yields better quality.  I sterilize my jars right in my water-bath canner, then use the canner and water to can, adding or removing hot water as needed to get the level 1” over the tops of the sealed jars.

To save clean-up time, I also boil the water and let the peppers stand in a large pot (step#1), then drain them in a colander and mix up the brine in the same pot for step #2.  I set my hot pot of peppers in brine right in my stainless steel sink next to the counter to fill jars.  That way I don’t have to lift my ladle up high over the pot.

The finished number of jars you get depends on the fineness of the dice; I chop by hand because we like to see the pepper pieces; if you use your food processor you would probably get less jars as it would pack more tightly.

I weighed the amount of vegetables after chopping to give you a better idea of how much you need; the large peppers are the size of the ones you purchase; if you use garden peppers, you may need more.

Check here to refresh your water-bath canning procedures.

                     

                     Pepper Relish

  2              large  Onions -- 12 ounces (after chopping)

  2              large  Green Bell Peppers -- 9 ounces (after chopping)

  2              large  Red Bell Peppers -- 9 ounces (after chopping)

  1 1/2       Cups  Boiling Water

     1/2       Cup  Sugar

     1/2       Cup  White Vinegar

     3/4      Teaspoon  Pickling Salt

Chop the onions and peppers in 1/4" dice.  Cover with the boiling water, let stand for 5 minutes and drain.

Combine the sugar, vinegar, and salt.  Add the vegetables and boil for 5 minutes.

Pour into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom.

Adjust lids (that have been prepared according to mfg. instructions).

Process in a boiling water bath canner for 5 minutes.

Shelf stable.  I usually let mine set a couple of weeks before using so the flavor is fully developed.

5-6 half pint jars or 12-13 quarter pint jars.

Number of jars depends on the size of the dice...the finer the dice the less jars needed.

Yield:  "6 Half Pints"   Cost 2017:  $4.89 or 82¢ per half pint if vegetables are purchased

Adapted from “Storey's Country Recipes"