This ‘Fall Garden Relish’ recipe for home canning from the University of Georgia is designed to help you use up leftover bits and bobs from a vegetable garden in the late fall. You can of course also make it with the bargain autumn harvest-time priced veggies from your local green grocer or grocery store.
The recipe’s unassuming title is very deceptive, and its simple ingredient list has so little extra flavouring added in the way of spicing, that the first time you make it, you may not hold out much hope for it. But, somehow the light hand with the spicing is exactly right to let the complexity of the vegetable mixture shine through. It’s a tangy, crispy relish, with a fresh, morish taste that definitely makes using up odds and sods into a delicious virtue, and may well become the jewel in the crown of your annual canning. And despite the unexciting name, it does make a great gift: people love this relish.
This recipe is another unique gem from the invaluable “So Easy to Preserve” put out by the University of Georgia.
You can easily double (or triple) the batch; just make sure it’s always piping hot before going into the jars to be canned.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Either quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz) OR half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml/ 16 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 4 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 10 minutes either size jar
Fall Garden Relish
Ingredients
- 500 g cabbage (finely chopped. 1 pound / 4 cups / 1 quart. About 1 small head, or ¾ of a medium-head)
- 400 g cauliflower (finely minced. 3 cups / 24 oz / 1 medium head)
- 500 g green tomatoes (unpeeled, chopped. 2 cups / 18 oz / 4 medium)
- 350 g onion (finely chopped. 2 cups / 2 medium)
- 300 g green bell pepper (finely chopped. Measured after seeding, chopping. 2 cups / 10 oz)
- 150 g red bell pepper (finely chopped. Measured after seeding, chopping. 1 cup / 5 oz)
- 3 tablespoons pickling salt (OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
- 900 ml white vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 3 ¾ cups / 30 oz)
- 3 teaspoons celery seed
- 1 ½ teaspoons turmeric
- 700 g sugar (white. 2 ¾ cup / 24 oz)
- 3 teaspoons mustard powder
Instructions
- Prep veg and put into large bowl.
- Mix veg and either salt OR salt sub well and refrigerate veg mixture 4 to 6 hours or over night. Toss a few times if desired.
- Drain well.
- While it is draining, put everything from the vinegar down to the dry mustard into a large pot. Mix, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the drained veg. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, bring back to a boil.
- Pack hot into quarter-litre (½ US pint) jars or half-litre (US pint) jars.
- Leave 2 cm (½ inch) headspace for either size jar.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jar for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Nutrition
Processing guideline times below differ slightly from the usual altitude changes. The times apply equally to water-bath canners or steam canners.
| Required processing time in minutes per altitude | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jar Size | 0 - 305 m / 0 - 1,000 ft | 306 - 915 m / 1,001 - 3,000 ft | 916 - 1,830 m / 3,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 1,831 m / 6,000 |
| ¼ litre (½ US pint) | 10 min | 15 min | 15 min | 20 min |
| ½ litre (US pint) | 10 min | 15 min | 15 min | 20 min |
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude (follow the table above.)
For salt substitute, we recommend Herbamare Sodium-Free .
More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipes notes
- Don’t peel the tomatoes.
- You can use any colour of bell peppper (or sweet pepper); the suggested colour combo is just for looks.
- For the cabbage, you could use white cabbage, savoy cabbage or even red cabbage. In fact, you could try taking this to being a reddish relish by using red cabbage, red onion, and all red bell pepper.
- For the sugar, you could dial the amount back, or use the same volume amount of granulated Splenda®, OR 3 teaspoons liquid stevia. We recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia .
A tall, covered container like this can be ideal for the fridge, as it doesn’t take up valuable horizontal space. Shake the container occasionally to stir up the liquids.
Recipe Source
Fall Garden Relish. In: Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 163.
Modifications made:
- Noted option for the smaller jars (same processing times)
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 54 calories, 40 mg sodium
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 13 calories, 5 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 1 to 3 tablespoons: 0 points; 4 to 11 tablespoons: 1 point
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
* Pickle Crisp ® is a registered trademark of the Jarden Corporation.
Karen Ries
can you substitute liquid Stevia for half of the sugar?
Healthy Canning
See recipe notes.
Teresa
Can I substitute cider vinegar for the white vinegar?
Healthy Canning
Absolutely, might even be tastier. The reason that you can is because they are the same acidity and measure the same. Just be sure that the cider vinegar you use is 5% acidity or higher.