I wonder if this may have been a chili sauce rather than a relish?

Arthur,

When we make a red tomato relish, we generally make Pico de Gallo, but only for fresh eating. We've never canned it.

The red tomato relish recipe I linked below is one of the most popular red tomato relish recipes around. It might be similar to the one your dad made. My dad used his ripe red tomatoes for either canned salsa (which, way back in the 1960s and 1970s he merely called 'hot sauce') or canned tomatoes, but he made a green tomato relish that I think was generally just whatever chow chow recipe was in vogue for canning at the moment.

If the recipe I linked doesn't sound close to what you remember, let me know and I'll search my canning cookbooks for another one.

Dawn

Red Tomato Relish Canning Recipe From Taste of Home Magazine

Okiedawn,

Thank you for the recipe, might be close.

Auther,

You're welcome.

Dawn