Looks as if they just eliminated the mayo.

I have a similar recipe in a Mennonite cookbook and I've seen others, but usually the recipes included mayonnaise or a Miracle Whip-type cooked dressing amongst the ingredients. Now I see similar recipes online, but many have switched to "refrigerate" instead of bottle and seal.

Carol

Maybe they did that, Carol, because of the flour in the recipe. I know I've always been told that you can't can anything with flour or cornstarch in it. It sounds interesting, though.

Annie

Aside from canning issues, I can't see bothering with thickening a relish like this. I keep thinking flour would add a pastiness to it. I'd rather do a plain relish that can be canned and then stir in wet mustard and/or mayo to taste. More versatile and less space taken up in the fridge.

With all that mustard, plus the vinegar and green tomatoes, it should definitely be "zingy."

Carol

Annie - I thought the same thing about the flour but then found a USDA approved recipe that contains flour on the Univ. of Georgia website. The only disclaimer I saw was on using flour in pie fillings or soups but apparently pickled products are OK.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickled Corn Relish Recipe

To make a relish thick, its a good idea to use some dried ingredients as opposed to using a thickener. I use dried onions, dried garlic and peppers, and yes, even dried vinegar if I want a thicker relish. A better and more stable approach would be to use Clear Jel as opposed to flour. Acids can break down the flour as a thickener, and it can also affect Clear Jel. There are specific modified food starches that are used to thicken highly acidic foods without breaking down. Corn relish can darken at the surface as it will oxidize. I use ascorbic acid in the relish to help keep the yellow color bright. Also a little tumeric will help.

Thanks for that info, Malon, things keep changing I guess.

I've never used a thickener for my corn relish but I notice that the commercial brands now have that "gelatinous goo" that is prevalent in commercial pie fillings, so it must be common now.

Annie

Annie,
Another form of 'modified food starch' . Oddly, most of these thickeners come from corn and its many processes. Xanthum gum is an option.. Ever use that? Its in fat free salad dressings and is not a starch, but does thicken most any liquid without having to cook it.

I think I would prefer corn relish without the goo. When I was shopping at a German grocery store the other they had a whole section of "American" mixes. One of them was a spice packet for some kind of corn salad. Pretty only the red beans mix looked really american to me. The rest looked like somebody else's version of american. Probably how a Mexican feels when looking at the old el paso section in the US. What is labeled an american pizza is usually what we would call a hawaiian pizza - pineapple and ham. It is interesting to get another perspective. Sorry for meandering in your thread Malon, the corn goo caused a stream of consciousness moment.

Actually, the Old El Paso brand has been rated as close to traditional compared to most other brands. Of course, there is nothing as good as home made with fresh ingredients. As with any ethnic foods, there are sometimes major differences in the various regions. As to Pizza, thats purely an American concoction which found its way back to Italy.

Melly,

One of the most amusing moments of my life was the first time I actually bought a hot dog from a stand in France. I was feeling homesick and wanting something familiar, so decided to splurge on my starving overseas student budget on a hot dog.

The vendor grabbed a baguette --- a baguette??? --- and chopped it in half, then chopped off the remaining round end. He asked, "ketchup or mustard?" and while I hesitated in bafflement (you have to CHOOSE one???) he proceeded to impale the baguette on a large spike. I blurted out, "um, ketchup," and he squirted some down into the hole he had just created. Then, while I watched in astonishment, he pulled a too-long sausage of an alarming shade of BRIGHT RED out of somewhere, and stuffed it down into the hole, then handed me the result.

I started laughing so hard I could barely give him my hard-earned money. "Monsieur," I said, "Ceci n'est PAS un hot dog!"

Zabby

Zabby,
That is too funny! I have to watch out to make sure I don't end up with frites sauce here instead of ketchup on fries since I don't like mayonaise. Sometimes if you just ask for ketchup not tomato ketchup, they will give you the curry ketchup which tastes vaguely like a runny cross between kethcup and barbeque sauce. Even the tomato ketchup can be a bit runny at times.