Rummage relish, a University of Georgia recipe for home canning, is an “end of growing season” product that draws on odds and ends of late summer vegetables found by “rummaging” in the garden.
While some think the name is not appealing, the relish itself is delicious and shows the ingenuity of what cooks can do when presented with odd bits of food that need to be used up.
It’s tomatoes (red and green), cabbage, celery, peppers, onion and cucumber, mixed with a wonderful fragrant, cinnamony spice base.
You can make the regular version, (per 2 tablespoons, 33 calories and 60 mg sodium) or a sugar and salt-free version (12 calories and 5 mg sodium.)
You can easily turn this into Curry Relish.
See also: Fall Garden Relish.
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: 8 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)
Processing time: 15 minutes
Rummage relish
Ingredients
- 2 kg green tomatoes (finely chopped. 2 US quarts / 2 litres / 4 lbs. Measured after prep. About 16 medium)
- 1 kg tomatoes (red, ripe. Finely chopped. 1 US quart / 1 litre / 2 lbs. Measured after prep. About 8 medium or 6 large)
- 500 g cabbage (finely chopped. 4 cups / 1 quart. / 1 pound . Measured after prep. About 1 small head, or ¾ of a medium-head)
- 500 g onion (finely chopped. 3 cups / 1 pound. Measured after prep. About 3 medium-large)
- 250 g celery (finely chopped. 2 cups ½ lb. Measured after prep. )
- 150 g green bell pepper (finely chopped. measured after seeding, chopping. 1 large.)
- 150 g red bell pepper (finely chopped. measured after seeding, chopping. 1 large.)
- 200 g cucumber (finely chopped. 1 cup / 7 oz in weight. Measured after prep. )
- 175 g pickling salt (½ cup / 6 oz. OR non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub.)
- 2 litres white vinegar (5% acidity or higher. 2 quarts / 8 cups / 64 oz)
- 1 tablespoon celery seed
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon (ground)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (ground)
- ½ teaspoon cloves (ground)
- 700 g brown sugar (4 cups, lightly packed / 24 oz) OR 4 teaspoons liquid stevia
- 2 teaspoons garlic (minced. 2 cloves)
Instructions
- Prep veg and put into large bowl.
- Mix salt into veg mixture. Refrigerate over night. Toss a few times if desired.
- Next day, drain well.
- While it is draining, put everything from the vinegar down to the garlic 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 30 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 15 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) | 15 min | 20 min | 20 min | 25 min |
| ½ litre (US pint) | 15 min | 20 min | 20 min | 25 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, Herbamare Sodium-Free was used.
For stevia, Better Stevia liquid stevia was the stevia used.
More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipe notes
- If your cucumber is unwaxed, leave skin on. If it’s waxed, peel it.
- Instead of green and red bell peppers, you can use any colours of sweet peppers you wish. Or, if you want to give the Thanksgiving crowd a surprise, you could work in some hotter peppers — just don’t go over the total combined weight called for of peppers.
- Instead of the brown sugar, you can use the same volume amount of Splenda®, OR 4 teaspoons liquid stevia. It’s also okay to dial back the amount of sugar a bit.
- You can cover while bringing to a boil, but do the 30 minute simmering uncovered — the goal is both to drive acidity in to the veg, and let some of the liquidity evaporate away.
Tall, covered containers like this can be ideal for overnight storage in the fridge, as they don’t take up valuable horizontal space. Shake the containers occasionally to stir up the liquids.
The chopped veg should be about this size.
Recipe source
Rummage Relish. In: Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 172.
Modifications made
- Noted option for the smaller jars (same processing times);
- Added suggestions for sugar and salt reductions;
- Added Kitchen Bouquet option for colouring.
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 2 tablespoons / 30 ml:
- 33 calories, 60 mg sodium
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 2 tablespoons / 30 ml:
- 12 calories, 5 mg sodium
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
Jan
Do I rinse the vegies with cold water after soaking all night in salt water? The recipe says to just “drain”.
Healthy Canning
Just drain, as per the recipe.