Ball Blue Book Piccalilli

4 quarts peeled, cored chopped green tomatoes (about 32 med.)
2 quarts chopped cabbage (about 1 large head)
2 cups chopped sweet green peppers (about 4)
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 TBLSP mustard seeds
1 TBLSP celery seed
1 TBLSP prepared horseradish
4 1/2 cups vinegar

Sprinkle salt over the vegetables and let stand in a colander 3-4 hours. Drain thoroughly. (I rinse first.) Press with tea towels to remove free liquid. Put sugar, spices and vinegar in non-reactive pot on the stove. Simmer 15 minutes. Add the vegetables and bring to a boil. Pack hot into hot jars prepared for canning, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 10 min. in a boiling water bath. Yields about 7 pints.

Piccalilli without cabbage from "Keeping the Harvest" by Nancy Chioffi and Gretchen Mead.

3 sweet red peppers
3 sweet green peppers (or throw in a hot pepper if you are a wild one!)
2 quarts green tomatoes
10 small onions
3 cups cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/8 cup table salt (Use non-iodized or your relish will be cloudy)
1/4 cup mustard seed
1 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice

Wash, seed and quarter the vegetables. This recipe says put it through a food mill. I would just chop fine, or use the food processor if you want it really fine. Drain off excess liquid. In a large, non-reactive kettle, add vegetables and half of vinegar. Boil for 1/2 hour, stirring often. Drain and discard liquid. Add remaining vinegar, suagar and spices, and simmer 3 minutes. Pour into hot, sterilized pint jars, allowing 1/2 inch headroom, and process in a boiling-water bath for 5 minutes. Yields 6 pints. Ideal with hamburgers or mixed with ketchup for relish, or in potato salad.

"Non-reactive" means not aluminum or cast iron, which will "react" with the vinegar to give an off taste to your relish. Enamel, non-stick or stainless steel are fine.

These recipes assume you know safe canning procedures, which I won't go into. If you're not sure, check out the Web site of the National Center for Home Food Preservation, http://nchfp.uga.edu

Karen