Homemade Sweet Pickle Relish Canning Recipe

This homemade sweet pickle relish recipe is so good, doesn’t have any food coloring, and uses local water and freshly locally grown regular cucumbers and onions. If you have never canned relish before you will be surprised how easy it is. Once you’ve tried making this homemade relish, your hot dogs and hamburgers will be so darn good, that I doubt you will ever want to buy relish again.

This pickle relish was made with our garden cucumbers, but I have made it numerous times with good-quality fresh cucumbers from the store as well.

Sweet Pickle Relish Recipe Ingredients

Some older recipes call for white vinegar, suppliers change their recipes and now sell a milder white and pickling vinegar.  I prefer pickling vinegar for hot pack relish as it’s stronger with a higher acid content.

Make sure to use pickling salt instead of regular table salt.

The amount of sugar and vinegar you add to the sweet pickle relish is a bit of a judgment call, that depends a bit on your personal preference. If you prefer sweeter use more sugar and less vinegar.  If you prefer tart, less sugar and more vinegar.  I suggest starting with the least amounts of sugar and vinegar, taste-testing it, and then adding more sugar or vinegar if needed. 

This relish recipe consists of two main ingredients, cucumbers and onion.  Start by washing your cucumbers thoroughly in cold water.  Cut off the ends of the cucumbers and peel them as shown with some of the peel left on.  If you remove all the peel the relish has very little colour, if you leave all the rind on I find it makes the relish bitter.  

After the cucumbers are peeled, remove the skins from the onions.

I own a food grinder that is so handy for grating the cucumbers and onions, if you don’t have a food grinder, you can use a food processor, or grate the ingredients by hand.

Grind all the cucumbers and onions into a large bowl. Add the pickling salt, and let sit overnight in the fridge. The next day place the cucumber mixture into a colander over a bowl and set aside to drain for a couple of hours. You will likely see a couple of cups or more of water drain off. Just throw it out.

When making homemade relish everything has to be very clean. All the work surfaces need to be clean, including all the dishcloths, utensils etc.

While the cucumber mixture is straining, sterilize your jars. There are different ways to sterilize canning jars, but we boiled ours on the stovetop.

Wash and rinse your jars. Take a large stock pot, and fill it with hot (not boiling) water. Place the jars open-side up into the pot. Fill the large pot with enough water to cover the jars plus an inch. If you have room you can place your rings and lids in the same pot, if not place them in a second pot and boil like the canning jars.

Bring the water to a boil and let boil for ten minutes. Once boiling turn the stove temperature down but make sure the water keeps simmering. This is especially important when making the relish.

Remove your hot jars one at a time as you need them, be cautious not to get scalded. I use rubber-ended tongs and a pot holder, but you can use a jar lifter if you have one.

Cooking and Hot Packing Sweet Pickle Relish

This is a hot pack relish canning recipe, meaning you don’t need to process the jars after filling. (If you feel the need to process the jars after hot packing, process them in a hot water bath canner for 15 minutes.)

In the bottom of a large stockpot (6 to 8 quart size) combine sugar, vinegar, water, and spices over medium heat, and cook until boiling. Then add your grated cucumber and onions. Continue to cook the relish over medium heat until boiling. Stirring regularly, let simmer for at least five minutes before filling your jars.

The amount of natural cucumber water can vary greatly depending on how much moisture is in your cucumbers. While cooking the relish judge how much liquid you have, and spoon off any excess liquid.

Being careful not to get burned take a hot jar from the boiling water one at a time

Ladle the hot relish into the hot pint jars leaving a half inch of air space at the top of each jar.

Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth. Immediately add the hot lid and ring to the top of the jar, and twist the jar closed.

Repeat the process with the remaining relish, filling the jars one at a time.

Let the jars of sweet relish cool to room temperature, don’t touch the jars while cooling. As the jars cool you will hear them “pop”. Once the jars are cool, push on the lids to test if they are sealed. If the lids push down they aren’t sealed. This can happen for many reasons, maybe the jar wasn’t hot enough, there isn’t quite enough relish inside, etc. If a jar doesn’t seal, I simply store it in the fridge instead of the cupboard and use it right away.

Unlike pickles, you can eat relish right away, although it tastes better after about a week when the flavors have had a chance to blend

This is a good easy pickle relish recipe with simple ingredients, free of alum, horrible tartrazine, or other food colorings, and you know the water used is clean.

How to Store Canned Relish

Place the cooled jars of relish in a cool dark place between 40 and 70 F. When stored properly canned relish will keep for about a year. If you have unsealed jars, treat them like you would fresh, and keep them in the fridge.

Other Pickle Recipes to Try