Putting Food By - Janet Greene [155]
• Adjustment for my altitude if B–W processing _________________.
Relishes and Sauces
Pickled Hot Peppers or Bell Peppers
8 pints
This recipe comes from an old University of California publication.
4 quarts peppers
4 cups distilled white vinegar
4 cups water
4 teaspoons salt, preferably pickling
Olive oil (optional)
Wash peppers thoroughly. Remove core, seeds, and stems of large peppers. Cut as desired, or leave whole after coring. The small, hot peppers may be left whole with stems intact. Make 2 small slits in whole peppers.
Mix vinegar and water; heat to the boiling point. Since it is rather volatile, vinegar should not boil a long time. Pack peppers rather tightly into jars. Pour hot vinegar and water over the peppers to ½ inch of jar rim. If oil is desired, add vinegar to only ¾ inch of jar top. Add olive oil to come ½ inch from top. The peppers will be coated with oil when they pass through the oil layer as you use them. Add salt to taste, adjust lids, and process 15 minutes in a Boiling–Water Bath (185–212, F/82–100 C). Complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude _________________.
Beet Relish
About 5 pints
Unusual, because it’s made from raw, not precooked, beets. And it’s a handy way to use large beets that are on the woody side. A food processor makes quick work of what would otherwise be a splashy preparation.
4 cups coarsely shredded fresh beets—about 2 pounds before peeled
6 cups coarsely shredded green cabbage—3-pound head before coring
2 cups coarsely shredded onions—about 1 pound
2 cups cider vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
2 tablespoons freshly grated (or bottled) horseradish
Peel and cut beets lengthwise in eighths or finer, feed them upright onto the shredding disc of a food processor. Empty processor bowl, grate slender wedges of cabbage; grate quartered onions. Combine vegetables in an enameled or stainless steel kettle, add vinegar, sugar, salt, and horseradish. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook, stirring until thick—about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, ladle into clean hot 1-pint jars, leaving ½ inch of headroom. Adjust lids and process in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 15 minutes. Remove; complete seals if using boiled jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude _________________.
Piccalilli
4 pints
6 medium-size green tomatoes
6 sweet red bell peppers, seeded
6 medium onions, peeled
1 small cabbage
¼ cup pickling salt
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 cup packed light brown sugar (1 pound)
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spices
Put vegetables through the food grinder, using a coarse knife. Or cut the vegetables into chunks and pulse-chop in batches in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Sprinkle with the salt, cover, and let stand overnight. Drain; then cover with fresh water and drain again. When thoroughly drained, put into a large kettle and add vinegar and sugar. Tie spices in a small cloth bag and add. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove the spice bag and turn the hot piccalilli into hot pint or ½-pint jars, leaving ½ inch of headroom; adjust lids, and process, in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 5 minutes. Complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude _________________.
Margaret Hawes’s Zucchini Relish
5 to 6 pints
10 cups finely chopped zucchini (if small, leave in the seeds; if over
8 inches, remove seeds)
4 large onions
4 green bell peppers, seeded
4 red bell peppers, seeded
½ cup salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch or ClearJel.
4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2½ cups distilled white vinegar
Wash and peel zucchini, removing stems and blossom ends; remove seeds if squash is cut in large chunks for grinding. Peel and quarter onions; seed and quarter the bell peppers. Put vegetables through the food grinder, using a coarse knife. (With a food processor, use the shredding disc: