Well, it’s obvious that summer produce has finally peaked. From here on out, the quantities of any one fruit or vegetable will be considerably reduced. However, with only dibs and dabs of each crop to work with, you still have the fixings for some scrumptious relishes. Designer condiments fine enough to accompany your favorite Octoberfest sausage-on-a-bun. Zesty melanges so tantalizing in flavor and color you’ll be proud to include them in your Christmas gift baskets.
So relish the season – or at least what remains of it – with one of my favorite preserving activities.
If you haven’t involved yourself too much with relishes, you’re in for a pleasant surprise: unlike touchy jams or jellies, they don’t require a highwire balancing act between sugar, pectin and acid. In fact, relishes are so forgiving, that you really have to go out of your way to wreck them.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t a few things to keep in mind. Such as …
* Don’t fiddle with the amount of vinegar. Take it away and you’re dealing with low acid veggies ready and willing to join forces with the nearest botulinum bacteria.
There must be an adequate, uniform level of acid throughout the relish to keep this from happening. So always use reliable, tested recipes, and never (and that means NEVER) reduce the vinegar, or increase the water, which would neutralize the acid’s effectiveness.
* If you are trying to reduce salt or sugar in your diet, it is perfectly safe to cut back or eliminate them in your recipe since they’re in there for flavor and texture, not as a preservative.
* Don’t let up on your quality control. This time of year, many of the vegetables that you’ll encounter are marginal in quality, so scrutinize each piece thoroughly, eschewing those with decay, severe bruising or even the slightest evidence of mold.
From a safety standpoint, the United States Department of Agriculture says you’re fine – proper processing kills potential spoilage organisms – but whatever mold growth has occurred in the tissue may produce an off-flavor in your relish.
* Relish recipes have been around for eons. Food processors haven’t. Many of these old-time favorites call for the use of a hand-cranked “food chopper.”
If you have one and want to use it, that’s fine. But a food processor does work, as long as you are careful and don’t over-process the vegetables into mush. It’s wise to work in reasonably small batches and only chop one type of vegetable or fruit at a time.
* Boiling water processing times are another factor which must be taken seriously – even in something as seemingly innocuous as pickle relish.
One way cooks may inadvertently goof is if they create a relish that is thicker than intended in the original recipe. As the viscosity of a food increases, the rate at which heat will penetrate through the entire mass of food decreases. An adequate 10 minute boiling water bath in the original recipe may become inadequate if heat doesn’t penetrate the thicker relish in the same length of time.
But when a recipe states that the relish should be “reduced by half,” or some such obscure method of measurement, it’s easy to get it wrong.
A simple way to control this problem is by controlling the yield. For example, if a recipe indicates that the yield should be 6 pints, the actual yield can be controlled as follows:
1. Select a pan with a large surface area;
2. Measure 6 pints of water into the pan on a level surface and mark the level of the water with a sharp metal knife, then discard the water;
3. Add the ingredients to be concentrated or thickened to the pan and heat them using a medium high setting until the level of the cooked product cooks down to the 6 pint mark. Proceed with filling your clean, hot jars, as you usually do, with the hot relish.
* n n
The first recipe for Copley Plaza Chow, is a wonderful one given to me by Corvallis resident, Rich Brainerd. It’s been handed down through his family since the mid-1930’s. I’ve sort of picked up the baton on this one, passing it along to readers every chance I get. It’s a wonderful combination of flavors which I think you’ll really enjoy.
The recipe is supposed to have originated with a chef in Boston’s Copley Plaza. It was given to an architect friend of the chef, then passed on from one architect to another (architects are particularly fond of good food). In the mid 1930’s it reached the late William H. Brainerd. Since then, Copley Plaza Chow has become an established tradition in the Brainerd family.
Copley Plaza chow
51/2pounds (about 4 quarts) green tomatoes
51/2pounds red tomatoes
31/2pounds sweet peppers
2-3pounds hot peppers
21/2pounds onions
2cups salt
9cups dark brown sugar (not packed hard)
21/2quarts cider vinegar
5tablespoons whole allspice (not “pickling spice”)
Stem cores from tomatoes and seeds and stem ends from peppers. Put all vegetables through food chopper with coarsest cutter (Note: A food processor also works; don’t over-process). Add salt and let stand overnight. Rinse and drain thoroughly.
Wash 13 pint jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.
Put sugar and vinegar into a large nonaluminum pot and bring to a boil. Tie allspice into double thickness of cheesecloth and place into syrup. Add drained vegetables and cook about an hour, (the relish will thicken) not much longer. Remove allspice.
Ladle the relish into 1 hot jar at a time, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Fill and close remaining jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (15 minutes at 1,001 to 6,000 feet; 20 minutes above 6,000 feet).
Makes 12 to 13 pints.
My favorite hamburger relish recipe. Worth repeating.
Wimpy’s Delight – A Hamburger Relish
1quart cider vinegar
2sticks (2 to 3 inches each) cinnamon, broken up
2teaspoons whole cloves, slightly bruised
2teaspoons whole allspice, bruised
4cups coarsely chopped peeled and seeded tomatoes (about 6 large)
2cups sugar
4teaspoons mustard seed
1/4teaspoon ground hot red (Cayenne) pepper
4cups chopped unpeeled firm cucumbers (do not use waxed cucumbers)
1 1/2cups chopped cored and seeded sweet red peppers
1 1/2cups chopped cored and seeded sweet green peppers
1cup chopped celery
1cup chopped onions
1 1/2tablespoons turmeric
1/2cup pickling or other non-iodized salt
2quarts water
Tie the cinnamon, cloves and allspice loosely in a square of cheesecloth. Combine vinegar with the bag of spices in a nonaluminum pan. Bring the vinegar to boiling, adjust the heat and simmer it, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bring the mixture to a boil, then adjust the heat and simmer the mixture, partly covered, until it resembles a puree, about 30 minutes. Add the sugar, mustard seed, and ground hot red pepper. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cool and cover it, and let it stand overnight at room temperature.
Meanwhile, combine the cucumbers, red and green peppers, celery and onion in a ceramic or stainless-steel bowl. Sprinkle the turmeric and salt over the vegetables, then add the 2 quarts of water. Stir the mixture, cover it, and refrigerate overnight.
Wash 7 half-pint jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.
Drain the liquid from the salted vegetables and replace it with enough fresh cold water to cover them; let the vegetables soak for 1 hour, then drain them in a colander, pressing lightly.
Return the vinegar/tomato mixture to pot and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the drained vegetables, then return the relish to a full boil, stirring frequently, and cook it, uncovered, over high heat, for 5 minutes. Remove the relish from the heat. Remove the spice bag from the relish; squeeze out all possible liquid from the bag into the pot, then discard the bag.
Ladle the hot relish into 1 hot jar at a time, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rim with a clean damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process jars in a boiling water bath 10 minutes (15 minutes 1,001 to 6,000 feet; 20 minutes above 6,000 feet).
Makes 7 half-pints.
From “Fancy Pantry,” by Helen Witty
The addition of dill and sweet pickles gives this an authentic Coney-Island-hot-dog zing.
Hot dog relish
3large onions, coarsely chopped
1/4head yellow cabbage, coarsely chopped
6sweet green peppers, halved, seeded, deribbed and cut into chunks
5medium-sized ripe tomatoes, quartered
1/4cup pickling salt
1quart distilled or cider vinegar (must be at least 5 percent acidity)
1cup water
3cups sugar
3/4teaspoon ground turmeric
1tablespoon dry mustard
1tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
2teaspoons celery seed
About 1 quart dill pickles, drained and chopped
About 1 quart sweet pickles, drained and chopped
Wash 5 pint or 10 half-pint jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.
Put the raw vegetables through a food grinder with a coarse disk. Sprinkle them with the salt and let stand overnight; rinse the vegetables and drain them. Combine the vinegar, water, sugar and spices, and pour the mixture over the vegetables. Bring to a boil in a nonaluminum pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until relish is thoroughly heated through and thickened. Add the desired amounts of dill pickles and sweet pickles to the mixture and bring back to a boil.
Ladle the hot relish into 1 hot jar at a time, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process pints or half-pints in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (15 minutes at 1,001 to 6,000 feet; 20 minutes above 6,000 feet). Makes about 5 pints.
Adapted from “Preserving,” by the Editors of Time-Life Books
Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a Corvallis, Ore., food writer, cookbook author and artist. Readers can contact her by e-mail at janrd@proaxis.com.
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