Making Green Tomato Ketchup Relish is very easy. This is an old-fashioned recipe that people made to eat with peas or beans. Find out how easy it is to make this condiment.
When my husband’s grandmother was living, she would make Sunday dinner for her family each week. His grandparents raised a huge garden of vegetables that they froze or canned. One of the things that she canned every year was green tomato ketchup relish. It was made from green tomatoes and cabbage, and we would eat it on our beans or peas. Our family loved it. After my husband’s grandmother passed, no one had the recipe for the Green Tomato Ketchup Relish. The family has talked about several times how much we missed that recipe.
Earlier this year, my sister-in-law saw this recipe in a local newspaper and knew that it had similar ingredients. She asked me if I thought it was the recipe and I told her that I thought if it wasn’t the recipe that it was close to it. Therefore, I decided to try making it.
Gathering the Ingredients
Unfortunately, this year we do not have a garden so I had to purchase all the ingredients from the grocery. The ingredients are as follows:
- About 6 medium onions (enough for 4 cups)
- 1 head cabbage
- 10 green tomatoes
- 12 green peppers
- 4 banana peppers
- 1/2 cup canning salt
- 8 cups sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon celery seed
- 2 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
- 4 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups water
Green Tomato Ketchup Relish Recipe Instructions
First Day
Kenny’s grandmother used a knife to chop all her vegetables, but I decided to use a food processor because it is so much easier. I do think that I might have gotten my vegetables a bit smaller than hers, but it didn’t affect the taste.
Use a food processor to chop the onions, cabbage, green tomatoes, and green peppers to the consistency of coleslaw.
This made a large amount so I had to purchase a dishpan to hold the ingredients.
Sprinkle the canning salt over the top and stir it well. (My grocery did not have canning salt so I substituted pink himalyan salt.) Cover with cling wrap and let sit out overnight. This will help to pull out the liquid in the vegetables and also help the cabbage to ferment some.
Second Day
Drain the vegetable mixture in a colander.
Next, mix together the sugar, celery seed, mustard, turmeric, apple cider vinegar, and water.
Heat the mixture on the stove until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Pour the mixture over the vegetables and mix well.
Pour into a pan and bring to a boil on the stove over medium heat. (I didn’t have a pan large enough so I had to divide into 2 batches.) Boil for 3 minutes. I also put my jar flats in a pan of water and brought them to a boil.
Spoon into jars. Wipe the top well with a wet paper towel and seal.
The recipe did not say to water bath can, but you could also put the sealed jars into a large pot of water. Boil for 5 minutes and then let cool.
Results for Green Tomato Relish Recipe
The recipe yielded about 14 pints. Overall, we like the recipe. However, it was sweeter than Kenny’s grandmother’s Green Tomato Ketchup Recipe so if I make it again I would make some changes. I would reduce the sugar by 1 cup, use 2 fewer green peppers and green tomatoes and add in 2 more banana peppers. Her recipe seemed to have a ratio of more cabbage than tomatoes and peppers and it was less sweet with a hotter spice taste. With that being said, we also loved this recipe. Kenny eats it like an appetizer with crackers. I think it would be good to pour a jar over a block of cream cheeze and serve it as an appetizer.
You can also watch the video below to help you make this recipe step by step.
Green Tomato Ketchup Relish
An old-fashioned recipe for green tomato ketchup relish to use as a condiment on peas or beans.
Ingredients
- 4 cups onions, finely chopped
- 1 medium head cabbage, finely chopped
- 10 green tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 12 green peppers, diced
- 1/2 cup canning salt
- 8 cups sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon celery salt
- 2 tablespoons mustard seed
- 1 1/2 tablespoons turmeric
- 4 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 4 banana peppers
Instructions
- Chop onions, cabbage, green tomatoes, and green peppers in a food processor.
- Pour the chopped ingredients into a large container and add the canning salt.
- Cover with cling wrap and allow to sit on the counter overnight.
- The next day, strain the vegetables in a collander and then return to a large container. You may have to work in batches.
- In a large pan, heat the sugar, celery seed, mustard seed, turmeric, apple cider vinegar, and water until the sugar is melted.
- Pour the sugar mixture over the drained vegetables.
- In a large pan, boil the vegetable mixture for 3 minutes.
- Spoon into jars, wipe the top of the jar with a wet paper towel, and seal.
- Optional: Use a water bath canning method if desired.