Pickled Green Tomato Relish is a classic made from those end of summer jewels, green tomatoes.

The recipe is easily cut in half for a smaller batch, but bear in mind that small jars of this also make welcomed hostess gifts, etc.

This is a recipe from So Easy to Preserve.

Yes, cornstarch is fine in lab-tested recipes such as this that call for it, regardless of what the self-appointed safe canning police might say.

“So I merely slammed the door behind me and went down and made some green-tomato pickle. Somebody had to do it.” — Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.”

Contents hide

1 The recipe
2 Green Tomato Relish
3 Reference information
4 Recipe notes
5 Recipe Source and Notes
6 Safety Check
7 Nutrition information
- 7.1 Regular version
- 7.2 Sugar-Free Version

The recipe

Jar size choices: 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: 8 x half-litre (US pint) jars

Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)

Processing time: 5 minutes either jar size

Green Tomato Relish

Yield: 8 x half-litre jars (1 US pint)

Course Condiments

Cuisine American

Keyword Relish, Tomatoes

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 45

Servings 8 half-litre jars (1 US pint)

Calories 41kcal

Metric - US Customary

Ingredients

5 kg green tomatoes (washed but not peeled. Finely chopped. 5 US quarts / 5 litres / 10 lbs)
750 g onion (washed, peeled, finely chopped. 6 cups / 1.5 lbs. Measured after prep.)
1.25 kg bell peppers (mixed colours. e.g. red and green), washed, cored, seeded and finely chopped. (measured after prepping. 8 cups. 2 ¾ lbs. Measured after prep.)
175 g pickling salt (½ cup / 6 oz. OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
1 litre water (1 US quart / 32 oz)
1 litre vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 1 US quart / 32 oz)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
800 g sugar (white. 4 cups / 32 oz)
100 ml prepared mustard (⅓ cup / 3 oz)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Put the prepped veg (tomato, onion, pepper) in a large pot.
Add the water and the salt OR salt sub to the veg; bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, drain, return back to pan.
Take a portion of the vinegar (about 100 ml / ⅓ cup / 3 oz) and whisk into it the cornstarch.
To the veg mixture in the pot, add the cornstarch mixture, and the rest of the ingredients.
Bring to a boil; let simmer uncovered 5 minutes.
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 5 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 - 300 m / 0 - 1,000 ft	301 - 900 m / 1,001 - 3,000 ft	901 - 1,800 m / 3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 1,801 m / 6,000
¼ litre (½ US pint)	5 min	10 min	10 min	15 min
½ litre (US pint)	5 min	10 min	10 min	15 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 if desired, we recommend a non-bitter, non-clouding one such as Herbamare Sodium-Free.

More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.

Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.

What is the shelf life of home canned goods?

Recipe notes

To be clear, the tomato is not peeled.

For the peppers, you want about 6 to 7 (1.5 kg / 3 lbs.) whole peppers before starting prep on them.

For the onions, you’ll want about 8 x 7 cm (3 inch) onions, (900 g / 2 lbs.), before starting.

It is fine to reduce the amounts of salt and sugar in the recipe. Do not, however, reduce the amount of vinegar, or increase the amounts of low-acid ingredients such as the bell pepper, onion or water.

Instead of the white sugar, you could use the same volume amount of Splenda®, OR 4 teaspoons liquid stevia (we recommend Better Stevia liquid stevia )

Recipe Source and Notes

Pickled Green Tomato Relish. In: Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 165.

Modifications made:

Noted option for the smaller jars (same processing times);
Offered sugar and salt free options.

Safety Check

Pickled Green Tomato Relish has a pH of 3.86, tested using 25 g solids, 50 ml distilled water. Well below upper safety cut-off of 4.6 pH.

Pickled Green Tomato Relish has a pH of 3.86. Well below upper safety cut-off of 4.6 pH.

Nutrition information

Regular version

Per 2 tablespoons / 30 ml:

41 calories, 544 mg sodium
Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: per 2 tablespoons, 1 point

Sugar-Free Version