It really is impossible to answer since taste is such a purely subjective thing. What is too sweet for you may easily be too bitter for others and vice versa.

But nothing says you can't taste as you go along. You aren't locked into any specific amount of sugar so start out low and use your taste buds as it is cooking and increase as necessary. Same goes for peppers vs. onions - you can always reduce but can't increase. A relish is a blend of flavors so focusing on only one of the ingredients sort of defeats the whole purpose of making a relish.

Linda Lou's recipe always gets rave reviews so as with any recipe, trying to modify it with guess work when you haven't even tried it as written first usually only ends up ruining a recipe rather than improving it.

IMO you are going to regret the coarse shredding. It results in a very different mouth feel, an uncomfortable chewy texture for a relish that makes it more like a side-dish than a flavored condiment as most prefer, and a more dilute flavor to begin with.

Why not try making a 1/4 or 1/2 recipe of the original before trying to modify it with all these changes?

Dave

I used Linda Z's recipe in Joy of Pickling this summer for mine. I made some and canned it, had some leftover and thoroughly enjoyed it as it was specified in the recipe. I made a fresh batch for a picnic that got cancelled, so I ate on it for a while. It's still in the fridge. I added a little turmeric to the fresh batch to turn it yellow.

She said to run it through an old fashioned grinder, but I used essentially the large size on a box grater for the zukes. I chopped everything else by hand pretty small dice. If I ever make it again, I'll shred the ginger on a microplane grater and add it to the mix before putting in jars instead of using coins of ginger. The coins are not very tasty when you run upon one. Not terrible, just not quite as pickled.

Everything gets cooked and all the flavors meld together. So you won't taste onion or pepper specifically so much as you would miss them if they weren't there.

I've learned to try something as specified before tinkering. Just might be that the author knew what they were doing when they came up with the recipe. :-)

Using the food processor for all veggies... I recently canned the Zuc Relish. I used the Ball Zesty Zuc relish veggie amounts (minus the horseradish) for for the zuch, onion and peppers. I used two small red sweet pepper and added a couple of hot red jalapenos, cider vinegar and added a bit more at the end of the cooking time because it was a bit too thick for my liking. Also I reduced the sugar to 1.5 cups. For spices I used 1 tea celery seed, grnd mustard, tumeric, 1/4 tea cloves and all spice and 1/2 tea black pepper. I ended up with 11 half pints. We use this relish in so many ways... Mac/potato salads, tuna/chicken/egg sandwiches... tarter sauces... etc...

As for the amount of onions... I can't really distinguish their flavor from any of the other veggies...

Darn, I already shredded the zukes and 1 onion (1 cup), since I don't have a meat grinder and someone said on the zucchini thread they use the FP shred disk.

I figure a relish is for topping hot dogs, Linda Lou's recipe is nearly identical to the local church recipe and theirs looks shredded too. I've already made JoP Piccalilli and will be doing a chow-chow. I have more squash so can do a hand-chop version (if I don't use it all in chow-chow) later.

Actually, comparing to NCHFP, the OSU recipe is the Pickle Relish I already made 6 half pints of, but using zucchini instead of cucumber specified on NCHFP website - all other ingredients and amounts are the same, OSU just subbed zukes for cukes. I chopped everything in that relish since recipe said chop not grind.

I'll probably cut the 3C of onion to 2C (for 10C of zukes, 6 pint yield) but I really didn't know how much pepper(s) to use. And it just seemed like a lot of sugar, I'll reduce to taste. I know it's tested since I found the recipe on Missouri extension site but now it's gone, just was wondering why OSU recipe used more vinegar.

Am I close in guessing 1C for "ground" (I'd probably use a small dice, not the shred disk, do it by hand not FP) for "1 bell pepper"? I don't have bells, I have Corno di Toro, Sweet Banana, Tequila Sunrise and some hot peppers.

This post was edited by ajsmama on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 15:57

According to this pamplet: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/b3570.pdf - 1 medium bell pepper = 1 cup chopped pepper.... so if you are using other peppers.....just dice them but not minced or ground them too fine and measure as you go so you stay with in the amount specified in the recipe.

I did dice up 2C of various sweet peppers last night and salt them (I had only put in 3T with the squash, 1T with the onion, then the last T with the peppers), then mixed them in with the squash and onions. I only used 2C of onions so even if I was a little off on figuring 1 bell pepper = 1C (Ball produce guide says a "large" once is 1.25C) I should be safe.

I won't get to this for about 12 hrs after I added the peppers so they should have time to have the water drawn off. Except for the 1 Alma Paprika, these weren't as thick-walled (moist?) as bells either.

Oops - I didn't look at the recipe again last night before I chopped up the peppers, they weren't supposed to be salted and drained. I suppose this is still OK, though they might be mushier than if I'd added them to the pot?

This post was edited by ajsmama on Tue, Sep 30, 14 at 9:39

I decided to look at the JoP recipe, that uses 2.5C vinegar also for 14C of veggies (double recipe, though less zucchini and more peppers) but only 1.5C sugar. And it salts the peppers. So I decided to use the sugar/seasonings from that recipe.

So I took my (starting measurements) 10C of zukes, 2C of onions, 2C of peppers, salted and in fridge 12-24 hours, drained, rinsed, drained, added 2.5C ACV, 1.5C sugar, 2 tsp mustard seed, 2 tsp celery seed, and 1/2tsp ground ginger. Brought to boil and simmered 10 minutes per JoP recipe, though I could tell it was really cooking down. Put 1 2-inch cinnamon stick in each pint jar. I got 4 pints, not 7! The jars look pretty sloshy, I did top off the last one with 1Tbsp ACV to get the 1/2 inch HS.

I'm going to process these 15 min as in LL's recipe instead of the 10 min in the JoP recipe just to be safe, but is the reason I got so much less yield b/c the zukes and onions were shredded and not ground? Because there were more zukes in the ratio?

Linda Lou's recipe uses 1C more onions, I couldn't tell about the peppers, and 3C more sugar but cooks longer and yields 6 pints so I'm still about a pint off.

Should I be worried?

I am inclined to think that the salt soak removed a lot of the liquid held in the veggies.... the vinegar was appropriate for the recipe so acidity shouldn't be a problem. The amount of sugar makes a difference in bulk as more sugar = more of a "syrup" type consistency. It sounds like you need to keep on the look out for a recipe that limits onions (which as you know is a veggie that you can just eliminate) and stick with just a squash/pepper mix that is more to your liking.

Thanks - the Ball Zesty Zucchini Relish uses more veggies, and a cup more sugar, and only yields 5 pints so I think my density is OK. All 3 recipes call for salting (though JoP doesn't have it rest as long so may not get as much water out).

That 2C was 2 good-sized onions and even using the FP the tears were running down my face with the 2nd one. There were only a few shreds left in the pan (no liquid) so I didn't get a good taste, but we'll see how it is when I open it. How long does it need to mellow? I don't know if this weekend is too soon to open a jar?

When there is left overs that don't fit in that last jar... it is eaten right away... at least it is at my house... I would be inclined to open a jar right away if I wanted, too. But the truth is the flavors do "meld" after sitting a month or two. I prefer to use half pints jars because it would take me a long time to empty a pint jar plus I make a variety of relishes and I already have a fridge space issue :)

I was just thinking of bringing it to a cookout on Friday since if I make chow-chow tomorrow it definitely won't be enough time to mellow out the vinegar. I do have some relishes made a little earlier this summer.

Just bought 1 dozen halfpints at Walmart Monday, already filled them with tomato jam, doing more right now - went ahead and picked up 3 dozen at Target today. If I fill these up it will be 9 dozen this year.