Friday, August 21, 2009

Killer Carrot Relish

Photo and comments soon...

Killer Carrot Relish
18 carrots
4 green peppers( Jalapeno, serrano, etc.)
4 red peppers (bells, fresno, Johnny Nardello)
1-2 onions
1/2 cup salt
3 cups sugar
6 cups vinegar
2 T mustard seed
2 T celery seed (I used pink peppercorns at the market

Chop all vegetables using food processor (I use the grater attachment). Pour salt over vegetables and let stand for 2 hours in a glass, ceramic, or plastic bowl. Drain vegetables. Put remaining ingredients into a large pot, and add vegetables. Bring to a boil. Pack into hot, sterilized pint sized jars. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Check to make sure jars have completely sealed. Yield: 8 pints (give or take)

Note: If you do not can, smaller batches of relish may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Enjoy!

See you at the Market!

Chef Deb

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This recipe looks great. I have 3 quick questions. Do you rinse the vegetables after they have been salted? About what size carrots are we using? The last ingredient listed makes it seem like the pink peppercorn reference is a kind of celery seed. Thanks!

Chef Deb T said...

Nancy,

Great questions: I will also amend the recipe instructions...

*A quick rinse on the veggies ( the relish does need salt to balance all that sugar)

* Each shredded carrot should yield about 1/2 to 3/4 cup.
* Shredded carrots= 11 cups
* Shredded Onion = 3 cups
* Shredded red bell= 1 - 1 1/2 cup
* Shredded Green pepper
(bell, Jalapeno or combo) = 1 cup
Total yield of relish = 16 cups

* The pink peppercorn is not a type of celery seed, I used it as a substitution for a spice/seed. I like the color and I liked the little bit of floral flavor it added to the relish.

In all honesty, the only reason I wrote it in is, I did not bring any celery seed to the Market this week, all I had was pink peppercorns. Someone will want to know "why" their relish did not taste like mine.

The spices one chooses to use are really up to each person. I could see this working well with:
* bay leaves
* Star anise
* Ginger
* cumin seed
* fennel seed
* all spice (berries)

Thanks for the questions Nancy!

PLEASE NOTE: When canning at our altitude, you must add 1 minutes to your sealed jar boiling time for each 1000 ft of elevation.

Chef Deb

Iza said...

Hi there, I would like to ask you for how long the relish will be kept on the sterilized jars, at room temperature? Many thanks

Iza said...

Hi there, I would like to ask you for how long the relish will be kept on the sterilized jars, at room temperature? Many thanks

Chef Deb T said...

HI Iza,

A good rule of thumb is 6-9 months. Although a year may still be fine, as long as your jars were properly sterilized and "canned" according to your altitude.

I hope this helps.

Also, I found this recipe tastes better when the relish has aged a least 1-2 weeks prior to using.

Best,
Chef Deb