Sorry, as Linda Lou may point out, it doesn't have enough vinegar to water ratio.. The vinegar water would be better at a 50:50 amount. I use more vinegar in all of my recipes and instead of sugar, I have been using Splenda with great success.

Looking at that recipe, isn't the boiling water just to blanch the veggies? The syrup is undiluted vinegar.

If there isn't another response I'll come back to look at the proportions more carefully. I've been pulling weeds all day and am too whipped to think about anything involving ratios!

Carol

Ken, the boiling water is drained off.

And as you will note, I upped the sugar to about 4-food- to-l-vinegar, which I think we discussed about the corn relish.

Carol, I've been moving rocks and plants tooo much today for the installation of fiber optic phone lines, TV, internet etc. Wouldn't you know my dry creek bed and drainage pipe were right in the way???

Get some good rest?

Sorry, I only read the ingredients list. Wasn't aware of the tossed water. I suppose that would work just fine, but lets hear from Linda Lou and see what she has to say about it too.

ooops should have said upped the vinegar....

Okay, back to your questions:

I didn't check your link but instead compared to some similar NCHFP relish recipes in the most recent edition of their book.

Up the vinegar to 4 cups and you're definitely fine. Amount of sugar, as you know, can be safely decreased or increased. You could also use cider vinegar instead of white vinegar for a mellower taste; might make less sugar necessary. Just be sure it's real cider vinegar and 5%.

I wouldn't reduce the 10-minute time to 5-minutes. You need to be sure the veggies are heated through and since you're planning larger chunks if you cut back to 5 minutes, with this large volume you can't be assured of adequated heat-penetration.

15 minutes BWB is fine as long as you don't go to a larger jar, but for pints there's no problem.

Carol

okay ... I think I was close enough that I'll feel comfortable adjusting my other recipes. I do not know how I'm going to like the taste of all that vinegar.(Thank goodnes, not all of the recipes need to increase the vinegar as much as this one).
I already use cider vinegar in most everything. I won't increase the sugar until I've done the first batch.

One thing that's puzzling me
... relishes seem to take a lot more vinegar than salsas. I'm looking at at the Tomato Salsa with Paste Tomatoes recipe from the NCHFP site and it calls for 31 1/2 cups of tomatoes, peppers and onions (plus 6 cloves of garlic) but only 2 cups of bottled lemon or lime juice.

Thank you so much for your help ... hope you survived your visitors. Family is great, but tiring.

... Carol, you were pulling weeds when you answered me last week ... I had another discussion going with Linda Lou and she was having family visitors.

You mentiioned checking recipes against the NCHFP book ... is it different from what I get from their site?

Yes, but remember bottled lemon or lime juice is much more acidic than standard 5% vinegar, so recipe developers can use less.

The book is "So Easy to Preserve." I just got the latest edition, passing the previous one on to my sister. However, I don't think it's necessary to buy it. I would guess that most, if not all, information is on the site, though there the NCHFP site isn't always user-friendly.

I'm very comfortable on the internet but sometimes I just want a book I can open and study or browse through. Cognitively it's a different process. Besides, it's a lot easier to carry a book into my kitchen, LOL.

Carol

Hi, I still have company. Will be here until Friday.
I had my grandson for 3 days, then he was still here yesterday and our company came yesterday, too, a day early ! Just as we were going out the door to make the hours drive up to take our grandson home. So, my daughter had to come down and get him. I had to cook dinner for everyone. At least my dh cooked the chicken on the grill for me, bless his heart !
So, I am exhausted ! Having a good visit, though.
Anyway, part of the deal with the relish is also the density of it. Relish is normally denser than a salsa would be. Especially the ones that are water bath canned, you notice how much vinegar is in them ? A lot of people comment on how liquid they are, but that is part of the safety of the products. The size of the pieces of food is also a consideration in safe processing of foods. That and how much liquid is in something. That is why diced tomatoes packed in water takes less processing time than those packed without any added water. There are a lot of factors that go into a safe recipe for canning.
Yes, that is true, too, what Carol said about bottled lemon juice being twice as acidic as vinegar, yet tastes less tart.
That new book is nice, but it is the same as what is online. I saw the new copy of the book.
You need to simmer the food for the time called for because it also "preshrinks" the vegetables. That, and you want the food really hot as it goes into the jars when you are hotpacking foods. That can make a difference in processing times with some foods. If you check some recipes you will notice that raw pack and hot pack are not always the same processing times for the same ingredients.
I agree, keep the vinegar amount to 4 cups in the recipe.
I sure hope I am making sense, as tired as I am !!!
If not, forgive me. Things may get better, but then again, it is the starting of canning season ! I won't make any promises...
Another thing, if you made jelly with the liquid, it would need some added vinegar. Just like all pepper jellies do. It would not be high acid like fruits.

Carol, Linda Lou ...

thanks so much for all the time you've given me. I am still very confused about the amount of vinegar required for relishes vs. salsa. But I need to think a bit and do a lot more digging before I can even couch my questions in a coherent format. I'll be begging more help just as soon as I figure out what it is I do not know.

This does not seem to be shaping up as a good year for locally grown crops. After a very late spring, we are now having something of a drought. I just hope I'll be able to get enough cukes, tomatoes and peppers to test all my new-found insights.

Cukes need a LOT of water. If you have ever had 'golf ball' shaped cukes, you know they need more water. Last year, I had not one single golf ball sized pickling cuke. Now, I use soaker hoses and water every 2-3 days for about half an hour or more. Another item I used on last years crop was Serenade Solutions, which helped to reduce and prevent the downey mildew on the leaves and gave me more of a cuke growing season, the best yet. Lots of dill coming up everywhere here, even between the concrete bricks and cracks on my back stairs..

It sounds as if you're well on the way to wisdom. Like Socrates, who was wise because "he did not think he knew what he did not know."

If anything, you have a much clearer understanding of the complexities of safe preserving and why "winging it" can be problematic.

Carol

kayskats, I know what you mean, I'm finding this all complicated to follow, too, but interesting!

Linda lou, have a nice visit, but don't overdo it! Remember to delegate --- ask your company to do some of the work. I know it still doesn't make it un-stressful, and many things you'd rather YOU do in your own kitchen I bet, but you gotta be straight with folks that they need to help out.

Ken, that's funny about your dill. Makes me laugh that I have three plants I carefully have babied along from seed indoors!

On the other hand, what I have popping up in crazy places is mustard. I had a giant red Indian mustard in with my greens last year, and some of it must've gone to seed because it's popping up in the garden paths (growing right through, or maybe IN, a layer of wood shavings & straw that is keeping out all other weeds), the tomato beds on the other side of the garden, even one in the flower bed beside the porch, 100 feet away and around a corner of the house.

I tried lifting some gently from one of the raised tomato beds and replanting in the greens bed, but no matter how careful I was, how much dirt I brought along with, and how much I watered in, they promptly shrivelled and died. Yet any I haven't tried to move are FLOURISHING, despite getting much stepped on in the paths... I guess if I want mustard greens in my salad I'll have to let 'em grow where they want to be.

I also have one squash volunteer that actually came up in the RIGHT bed, so I'm letting it go to see what it comes out to be. Could be anything, since I put homemade compost on that bed....

(Sorry, kayskats, to be rambling about growing veggies on your vinegar thread! It is late and my brain is fried.)

Zabby

Mustard like dill have a lot of very fine roots. Thats one reason it doesn't transplant well. I woudn't bother trying to move the dill thats in the concrete cracks, as it would involve too much. I just spray it with a weed killer and be done with it. I don't mind the hundreds of dill plants in my saffron crocus bed however.