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Relish Ingredient question

15 years ago

I tasted and bought a Jalapeno Relish at a craft show and immediately came home and looked for a recipe. The only one I found seems to have an error in the ingredients and before I waste the ingredients, I wanted to know if any jam experts agree with me. The list of ingredients says 1 pkg of Sure Jell. Then in the directions it says to grind peppers and onion, add vinegar, sugar and Sure Jell. Bring to a rolling boil and boil 1 minute. Remove from stove and add 1 (6 oz.) bottle of Certo (which is made by Sure Jell). Isn't that doubling the amount of pectin this recipe uses?

Most of the jams I've been making say to boil the ingredients for a certain amount of time, add the pectin and boil for another minute and then process in a water bath. I just don't want to waste my time and ingredients.

Thanks for any tips anyone can offer.

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Comments (6)

rachelellen
15 years ago
I don't know why you'd need to add a jelling agent to a relish at all? I did a quick internet search and found jalapeno relish recipes galore...some for canning, some not. I'd probably just look for another recipe. Try Googling "jalapeno relish recipe" and look through them.
teresa_nc7
15 years ago
Sure sounds to me as if the pectin has been doubled. And why is this called a relish if it has pectin in it...that would make it a jam or jelly (if just the juice is used)? I would do the following before making this recipe:

~ look at other jalapeno jelly/relish recipes to compare the amount of the chopped vegetables, sugar, vinegar, water, etc.

~ contact either or both of the web sites for Sure-Jell and Certo to see if they have an answer to your question

~ contact the person who made the relish or the company to see if they might answer your question - they might not

~ ask the experts over on the Harvest forum!

First you have to decide if this "relish" is technically a relish or a jelly. Compare sweet pickle or hot dog relish to pepper jelly, in other words, to see just what you have. This may have been made from an old family recipe that called it a relish to be served on meats when it is actually a vegetable jam/jelly with the consistency of a "jelled" product.

Teresa
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Recanning can cause problems, including bacteria getting in. I posted a similar question about canned mushrooms in big 10 pound metal cans, and wanted to repack in pint jars. They cannot be done. If you recan in smaller size jars, they do need a BWB to process to properly can them. If you do that step, the relish can get quite mushy. Because its a relish, I would expect that any watermelon would be finely chopped, and only the white part and skin would be used. It might be better fill smaller jars and refrigerate, as opposed to a reprocessing with heat. Another option is to try and duplicate the relish yourself, and see if the results are similar to store bought as to texture and taste. I made a relish two years ago that used finely chopped cukes, onions, vinegar, and spices. After making a batch, I also made mustard pickles. I thought the two in combination would be great on hotdogs. They are really tasty and much more flavorful compared to any store bought.
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"OK so what can I do now? Heat it all back up with more brine and reprocess?" If it has been less than 24 hours since you processed it, that is what the guidelines would recommend you do. Like I said above, use the same ingredients, hot pack it all, loose-pack the jars so that much more brine would fit in (relishes are supposed to be packed "sloshy" and then drained if needed after opening), and then BWB process. You'd need to make a double batch of the brine to have enough for the loose sloshy packing and you would need to boil the solids in the brine before filling the jars. It would still be an untested recipe so some risk would remain but the risk would be greatly reduced. If it has been more than 24 hours then the guidelines recommend it be frozen instead. Dave
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lindac
15 years ago
Post the amounts here....perhaps it's too much to be jelled by one package if pectin.
They may call it a relish, but obviously there's no watery stuff around the edges.
Linda C
ci_lantro
15 years ago
I'm confused, too. Relish & jelly are two different things. And, yeh, that does sound like a whale of a lot of pectin.

If what you're wanting to make is a pepper jelly, then I'm going to point you to Annie's Habenero Gold Jelly recipe. It makes a beautiful jelly, looks like sunshine streaming through a stained glass window. Besides being mighty purty, it's darned tasty stuff, too. You could substitute jalapenos for the habeneros, if you wish. I'd try to find red ripe jalapenos for appearances sake.

I tried to find a picture of it, with no luck. Hopefully, Annie will wander in here, take a (much deserved) bow and post a pix!

Here is a link that might be useful: Habanero Gold Jelly
jimster
15 years ago
That recipe doesn't fit my concept of relish. It sounds more like what I would consider a jam because the chiles are ground, not chopped, and the ingredients include pectin and sugar. Personally, I would like a jalapeno relish to have a chopped texture and to be non-sweet.

Jim
readinglady
15 years ago
I would be inclined to think it's a typo or someone inadvertently combined two recipes, one using powdered pectin, one using liquid.

I'd stick with what's in the ingredient list and not double up. It sounds like this recipe is using the pectin as a thickener, which is the same thing, IIRC, that is done in Harry and David's Hot & Sweet Pepper Relish (or something like that). There's a copycat on Harvest.

The magnificent salsa is Annie's creation. The Habanero Gold is a Bernardin recipe created by Bob Rouleau.

Carol

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