Soonergrandmom, This is the recipe I use for Green Tomato Pickles. It sounds like it would be similar to what you are wanting. Thanks for your post reminding me. I am going to make some today. :) Dawna Green Tomato Pickles 1 gallon green tomatoes, cut into chunks 1 cup green and/or red bell peppers, cut in square chunks 2 cups onions, cut in wedges or chunks 1/2 cup jalapeno peppers, sliced Bring this to a boil and pour over veggie mixture: 2 cups vinegar 2 cups sugar 2 Tablespoon canning salt (a little red pepper if needed) Bring entire mixture back to boil and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally ). Don't bring to a full boil for more crisper pickles). Ladle into sterilized jars, water bath 5 minutes to insure a good seal. Makes 7-8 pints. The original recipe said to cook for 20-30 minus (with no water bath) but I thought that cooked the stuff too soft. You can use your own judgement on cooking time.

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

Be sure to read the notes that are after the recipe. You can use any type of pepper(s) you want as long as the total remains the same. "In order to adjust the hot pepper intensity of the finished product, the proportion of sweet to hot peppers may be adjusted according to taste and the variety of hot pepper provided that the total amount of measured ground pepper is not altered. In other words, with all other ingredients measured as specified in the recipe, there should be no more than 10 cups of ground peppers." Rodney

The mustard relish recipe is an old one that has hung on long after the use of prepared mustard option was removed from all but 1 other recipe (because of the pH and the thickeners in it plus the cornstarch). So it has often been a controversial recipe but it repeatedly holds up to safe testing as it is written so has been allowed to remain. Still it isn't usually considered one to experiment with since it is so borderline on the safety scale. As canfan said adding any dry spices or seasonings isn't a problem and can actually have a marginal increase in safety since they absorb some of the free water in the recipe (water has a pH of 7+). But any other changes in the recipe really aren't recommended. Keep in mind that sugar also plays a marginal safety role by binding up free water so only a minimal reduction might still be ok but not much. Better to simply compensate for the "too sweet" by adding more vinegar. Since it is only a 1:1 ratio (water to vinegar) to begin with more vinegar certainly isn't going to hurt and can really increase the safety margin. Dave