Green Tomato Hot Dog Relish

I Refuse to Let Them Die

Last Friday I was aware that we would have a killing frost in Utah. Knowing this was coming, and knowing I would eventually have to say goodbye to my precious babies, I took action. I up rooted all of my plants except one low yielder. Then I hung them upside down in the garage. This crazy action is supposed to send all the energy left in the leaves and stems directly into growing and ripening the remaining fruit. I did have several green fruits that fell off and I collected them all with great intent. Got out my food grinder and got busy.....


Here is what happened to the Green Tomatoes...

Voila... Green Tomato Hot Dog Relish. I guar-ran-darn-tee that you will not be able to tell there are not pickles in this recipe. I have to give my self a great big pat on the back!

Green Tomato Hot Dog Relish ( I doubled this recipe and it yielded 10 - 1/2 pints)
6 cups finely chopped cored green tomatoes (unpeeled)
2 onions, finely chopped
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tsp. whole cloves
1 tsp. celery seeds
1 cinnamon stick,(4 in.) broken in half
2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

I sent the onions, peppers, and tomatoes through a coarse grind on my food grinder. Drained off the liquid in the tomato mixture and stirred in the 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of Kosher salt. Set this all in a glass bowl covered it and let it stand for 12 hours. The next morning I poured it into a strainer and rinsed it with cold water and then squeezed out as much of the liquid as I could.

Tie the cloves, celery seeds, and cinnamon stick in a square of cheese cloth, creating a spice bag, or bouquet garni.

In a large Stainless steel pot, combine the vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, mustard, salt, ginger and spice bag. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add drained tomato mixture, stir well and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until tomatoes are transparent, about 1 hour. Discard bouquet garni.

Meanwhile prepare canner, jars, and lids. I quick wash the lids and jars in the dishwasher and leave them in the heat of the dishwasher until needed. I get about 3 inches of water boiling in the canner.

Ladle hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1 centimeter of head space. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space, if necessary by add more hot relish. Wipe the rims, Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Place the jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

I made some AWESOME Ketchup with the 24 pounds of ripe tomatoes I harvested. 24 pounds condensed into 10 half pint jars. This is really the best thing I have ever preserved, and I will likely make it over and over now that I know how. In case you are wondering what the brown liquid is, it is cider vinegar with a bouquet garni of cinnamon, cloves, celery seed, and allspice. You can leave a comment if you want the recipe for the ketchup.


By the way all of today's recipes are from this simply awesome book. You can click on the picture and it will take you to Amazon where you can read more about it.