What should we do with green tomatoes? This post is a recipe with canning instructions for a Green Tomato Relish, that solves the age-old end of season un-ripe tomato problem.

As promised, today is the last of Tomato Week. Hope you aren’t tired of these recipes! My kitchen is a mess, and it’s time to move beyond tomato canning!

We have processed all of our little garden harvest over the last week, and it was time to deal with the leftover green tomatoes. We had them in paper bags with bananas in the kitchen – trying to ripen them, but the fruit flies have taken over – So It’s time to put up the green tomatoes.

This recipe is based upon the Bernardin Recipe – but I changed up the spices just a little. It yields about 6 250 ml canning jars. Green Tomato Relish is GREAT on hot dogs, pogos and hamburgers.

The recipe is straightforward but the diced vegetable mixture needs to sit with pickling salt in the refrigerator overnight before preparing -so this is a 2 day project.

Green Tomato Relish Ingredients:

10 cups finely chopped green tomatoes

3 sweet peppers diced (I had one each of a yellow, orange and red pepper)

2 onions – I used one white and one red! – diced

1/4 cup pickling salt

2 cups white vinegar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 clove garlic minced

2 tbsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp celery seeds

1/2 tsp salt

Green Tomato Relish Method:

Day 1 – Chopping the vegetables:

Dice green tomatoes, onions and peppers.

Place in a non-reactive bowl (I used a ceramic mixing bowl, but you could also use a stainless steel pot). Mix and cover with pickling salt. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator or in a cool place overnight.

Day 2 – Getting ready:

Prepare 6 250 ml jars or equivalent. I always prepare a few extra sizes in case there are leftovers, or I want to do a bigger jar for my own refrigerator. I like the smaller jars, if I am giving the relish away as gifts to family.

In a large stainless pot, submerge all jars in water. Bring to a boil and sterilize the jars for about 5 minutes.

Reserve the hot water to warm the sealing discs just before canning. The sealing discs are not to be boiled – they just get warmed in hot water so that the adhesive ring becomes “sticky”, when it’s time to seal the jars.

I always boil my stainless ladle, spoons and tongs as well, just to make sure everything is germ free. I spread some clean paper towels on my counter, and keep a silicone oven mitt at the ready for when I have to grab something hot.

Preparing the pickling liquid:

In a large stainless steel pot, mix vinegar, brown sugar, minced garlic, dry mustard, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, celery seed and salt.

Rinse tomato mixture and drain well. The pickling salt should have drawn out some of the moisture, and then the mixture should be pressed a little to remove some of this liquid, but not squished!

Bring pickling liquid to a boil, mixing well. Add in vegetable mixture, and simmer for one hour, stirring constantly. Cook until the tomatoes become transparent.

Canning the relish:

Ladle the relish into prepared jars. Press down evenly – leaving about 1/2 inch of “headspace” or clearance in each jar. Ensure, that solid pieces are covered with the vinegar mixture in each jar by pressing down with non-reactive spoon.

This recipe yielded 5 full 250 ml jars for me and one not-so-full jar which I keep in the refrigerator. When jars are filled to 1/2 inch, clean the rims with a paper towel. Warm the sealing discs and then place over the top of each jar. Place the rings around each jar and tighten to just fingertip tight.

Place jars in water – upright with at least one inch of water above surface of jars. Boil for 10 minutes.

Remove jars from water with tongs, and keep upright to cool for 24 hours.

We enjoy this relish over hot dogs, pogs and hamburgers, but I also mix it into pasta salad when a bit of zip or texture is required.

That’s the last of our tomato preserves series! It’s time to clean my kitchen and maybe have a hot dog.

Below is a printable recipe card from RecipesGenerator. Please give it a try!

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