Garden Tomato Relish Recipe

Garden Tomato Relish Recipe Garden Tomato Relish Recipe photo by Taste of Home Rating 4

What a great way to use your garden harvest—and have a tasty relish on hand for hotdogs, hamburgers and other dishes. Why not share a jar with a friend or neighbor? —Kelly Martel, Tillsonburg, Onario

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Garden Tomato Relish Recipe
  • Prep: 1-1/2 hours + simmering Process: 20 min.
  • Yield: 160 Servings
90 20 110

Ingredients

  • 10 pounds tomatoes
  • 3 large sweet onions, finely chopped
  • 2 medium sweet red peppers, finely chopped
  • 2 medium green peppers, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons mustard seed
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 4-1/2 cups white vinegar
  • 2-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons canning salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

  • In a large saucepan, bring 8 cups water to a boil. Add tomatoes, a few at a time; boil for 30 seconds. Drain and immediately place tomatoes in ice water. Drain and pat dry; peel and finely chop. Place in a stockpot. Add onions and peppers.
  • Place mustard and celery seed on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up corners of cloth and tie with string to form a bag. Add spice bag and the remaining ingredients to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 60-75 minutes or until slightly thickened. Discard spice bag.
  • Carefully ladle relish into hot 1-pint jars, leaving 1/2-in. headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process in boiling-water canner for 20 minutes. Yield: 10 pints.

Editor's Note: The processing time listed is for altitudes of 1,000 feet or less. For altitudes up to 3,000 feet, add 5 minutes; 6,000 feet, add 10 minutes; 8,000 feet, add 15 minutes; 10,000 feet, add 20 minutes.

Nutritional Facts 2 tablespoons equals 20 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 136 mg sodium, 5 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein.

Originally published as Garden Tomato Relish in Taste of Home June/July 2009, p43

Tip

Quick and Easy Peeling

To peel tomatoes quickly and easily, cut a shallow "X" on the bottom of the tomato. Put it into a pot of boiling water for about 1 minute, then rinse under cold water. The skin will peel right off. —Claire Groff, Murphy, North Carolina

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Reviews for Garden Tomato Relish

Garden Tomato Relish Recipe

Garden Tomato Relish

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(1-19) of 19 reviews

Reviewed on Sep. 18, 2012 by azreal

not sure why but mine was way to runny..simmering with lid on didn't help. Should the tomatoes possibly have been seeded first?

Reviewed on Aug. 13, 2012 by J3_Dog

@ Sunnyt47165@aol.com

We used to make a green relish also for hot dogs and Beans. It was Chow Chow. We made it with Green tomatoes, cabbage, cider vinegar,sugar, salt, and a few other items. I might be able to find the recipe, but you should be able to google it "Chow Chow" Hope that helps Jim

Reviewed on Aug. 09, 2012 by Betsy Maier

This is a truly amazing sauce on burgers and dogs, loved by my family and friends. I do however simer it uncovered for 4-5 hours until it is nice and thick. The volume is reduced by about 1/2 by the end of the process. To add a bit of spice, I add a couple of jalepenos. My husband loves this version even better than the original.

Reviewed on Aug. 05, 2012 by shereebates

My friends and neighbors beg me for a jar of this relish when they know that I've made it. I added a bit of jalapeno to it to make it taste sweet AND sassy :D

Reviewed on Sep. 08, 2011 by joan0076

I'm not sure what happened, but I followed the recipe exactly and it was WAY too thin. I simmered it for 4 hours uncovered, then had to add 2 large cans of tomato paste to it to give it some body. Still nowhere close to a relish! I'm going to puree it and use it for BBQ sauce - it really tastes good as a sauce. Did the test kitchen use a special kind of tomato?? I put my trust in Taste of Home - don't know what happened!

Reviewed on Aug. 28, 2011 by babeelizabeth

this is exactly my mothers recipe, we love it,mixed with mayo it makes wonderful dressing almost like thousand island, great on shrimp or lobster salad.

Reviewed on Aug. 19, 2011 by mmlane1@comcast.net

My aunts also made this and called it 'chili'. Their's was not watery like this recipe. I wondered if it might be my tomatoes. I have "The Aunts" cloth bound recipe book and will combine the recipes next time I make it. It brought back fond memories of my aunts and my childhood.

Reviewed on Aug. 11, 2011 by patricialobo

I boiled for 2 hrs with no apparent thickening. Toms too watery? color is different due to spices. How did you keep it so bright red? All jars sealed so I did not taste, can't rate tonight

Reviewed on Aug. 09, 2011 by ccubed

I doubles this recipe since I have an abundance of tomatoes. It is outstanding. It reminds me of a chili sauce my Mother made when I was growing up. We used it on hot dogs so far, but, I plan to use it on chicken and fish. The only change I made was to cook it twice as long so that it became thicker

Reviewed on Aug. 02, 2011 by bigmac46

I would modify this by using some green tomatoes in it and grinding them to make it more relish like.

Reviewed on Aug. 01, 2011 by lcmccabe4

Can you freeze this rather than doing the water bath thing?

Reviewed on Sep. 20, 2010 by KateinND

I did have to simmer this an additional 2 hours to reduce it to a relish consistency. I found the vinegar to be the predominant flavor, and will most likely use this as a base for a bbq sauce rather than use it as a relish. I would recommend reducing the recipe by half if you've not tried this before - it takes a lot of resources to get the finished product.

Reviewed on Jul. 13, 2010 by lillianlbrk

I love this recipe> It is similar to a relish my Hungarian mother made.

I made a few adjsutments and additions to this recipe>>> added small diced celery, used swet shallots finely choppedadjusted the sugar first since I am a diabetic

Reviewed on Dec. 17, 2009 by sstewart29

This is a wonderful recipe. We canned about 20 jars of it this summer using tomatoes we grew in our garden. It's delicious on chicken and pork chops as well as a dip for chips. Ours looks just like the photo with the recipe.

Reviewed on Dec. 04, 2009 by lbsfromNC

This is definitly a 'keeper'. DD and I made it this past summer and liked it. Had some just yesterday on a hot dog. Yum! I think it is better now than when freshly made. We made 3 or 4 batches this past summer, will make more next year if we have the tomatoes.

Reviewed on Oct. 07, 2009 by esalonek@netzero.net

Wonderful on hot dogs,scrambles eggs, and on chips. I am making a second batch. BUT: illistration does not look like finished product, finished relish is much darker, probably because of spices. But so good.

Reviewed on Sep. 01, 2009 by newgrandma

I think the taste is really good but I am disappointed with the "thinness". I followed the recipe exactly and it has not thickened up.

Reviewed on Aug. 26, 2009 by sunnyt47165

When I was little my grandma and grandpa use to make a green tomatoe relish ,we called it cha-cha. It was tangy with some mild green peppr taste. Does anyone have that rescpe? Sunnyt47165@aol.com

Reviewed on Aug. 12, 2009 by zucchinilady

now I know what I will be doing with my extra tomatoes - sounds wonderful! Will be giving it as Christmas gifts! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!

 
 

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