Monday, September 14, 2009

Relish the thought.....

of Corn, Red Pepper and Onion relish.... mmm i say! I did up 7 1/2 pints of it... was the old "i need to use up these corn cobs and oh i have some red peppers left over" trick... those thoughts get me into more trouble, but at least it was tasty trouble, and very pretty to look at.. will give a nice brightness to my rows of jars in the 'larder' (oh i wish i actually had a larder)...
because it's a relish i wasn't too worried about mucking with the recipe so i used up all the corn, plus some frozen i had and 2 onions and some of the red peppers and tossed in a couple of green ones from my garden...this is the basic recipe i used... just the corn and pepper quantities aren't the same as the recipe below.. but pretty close...i also added a bit more vinegar and touch more sugar to make the liquid be enough for the veggies...and i left out the flour the original recipe called for...

Corn and Pepper Relish

5 cups (1.25 L)corn kernels
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) finely chopped onions
1 cup (250 mL) each diced sweet red and green pepper
hot sauce or dried chilli peppers to suit your taste
2 cups (500 mL) white vinegar
1 cup (250 mL) granulated_sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) each salt and dry mustard
2 tsp (10 mL) celery_seeds
1 tsp (2 mL) turmeric

In large Dutch oven or saucepan, bring vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard, celery seeds, turmeric and hot pepper sauce to boil. Stir in corn, onions and celery; reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until softened, about 20 minutes.

Add Peppers and stir gently, heat till boiling....

Fill hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Cover with heated prepared lids. Screw on bands until resistance is met; increase to fingertip tight. Boil in boiling water canner for 10 minutes. (i used pressure canner according to directions... 5 lb/5 mins... )



I finally got out into the garden this morning.. it's getting that 'fall' ugly stage.. i've noted that the finches have eaten most of my brassica seeds... i was hoping for some volunteers next spring... every year i've had volunteers come up in the spring... but i'm sure enough seeds have fallen to the ground to at least get a few... i've started to pull out a few things, and will rake the hay off the potatoes and might get around to digging some up.. i'm not expecting much of a harvest, but enough to have a few meals....the aphids are in heaven... they've decided that my brussel sprouts are delicious.. and my newly planted kale.. grrrr .. i think a soap and pepper spray is in order tomorrow!!!