This is a wonderfully, rich, medievally kind of exotic tasting relish.
Its ingredients are tomatoes (red and green), cabbage, celery, peppers, onion, cucumber and raisins, mixed with cinnamon, cloves and curry powder.
A plainer version of this is Rummage Relish.
Contents
The recipe
Jar size choices: Either quarter-litre (1/2 US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz) OR half-litre (1 US pint / 500 ml/ 16 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 8 x half-litre (US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (1/2 inch)
Processing time: 15 minutes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Yield: 8 x ½ litre (US pint) jars
Serving size: 2 tablespoons
Calories: 18
Fat: .1 g

- 2 kg green tomatoes, finely chopped (2 US quarts / 2 litres / 4 lbs. Measured after prep. About 16 medium)
- 1 kg ripe red tomatoes, finely chopped (1 US quart / 1 litre / 2 lbs. Measured after prep. About 8 medium or 6 large)
- 500 g finely chopped cabbage (4 cups / 1 quart. / 1 pound . Measured after prep. About 1 small head, or ¾ of a medium-head)
- 500 g finely chopped onion (3 cups / 1 pound. Measured after prep. About 3 medium-large)
- 250 g finely chopped celery (2 cups ½ lb. Measured after prep. )
- 150 g finely chopped green bell pepper (measured after seeding, chopping. 1 large.)
- 150 g finely chopped red bell pepper (measured after seeding, chopping. 1 large.)
- 200 g finely chopped cucumber (1 cup / 7 oz in weight. Measured after prep. )
- 100 ml water (1/3 cup / 3 oz)
- 175 g pickling salt (1/2 cup / 6 oz) OR 4 tablespoons salt sub
- 1 tablespoon Pickle Crisp® (optional)
- 2 litres white vinegar, 5% acidity or higher ( 2 quarts / 8 cups / 64 oz)
- 1 tablespoon celery seed
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons additional salt sub (if not using salt)
- 700 g brown sugar (4 cups, lightly packed / 24 oz) OR 4 teaspoons liquid stevia
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
- 350 g raisins (2 cups / 12 oz)
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet (optional)
- Prep veg and put into large bowl.
- Mix water, salt OR salt sub together well. Stir in Pickle Crisp® (optional).Pour over veg, mix well and refrigerate veg mixture over night. Toss a few times if desired.
- While it is draining, put everything from the vinegar down to the garlic into a large pot. Mix, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the drained veg, raisins, curry powder, and Kitchen Bouquet (optional.) Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, bring back to a boil.
- Pack hot into quarter-litre (1/2 US pint) jars or half-litre (US pint) jars.
- Leave 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace for either size jar.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jar for 15 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
Processing guideline times below differ slightly from the usual altitude changes. The times apply equally to water-bath canners or steam canners.
Required processing time in minutes per altitude | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Jar Size | 0 - 305 m / 0 - 1,000 ft | 306 - 915 m / 1,001 - 3,000 ft | 916 - 1,830 m / 3,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 1,831 m / 6,000 |
1/4 litre (1/2 US pint) | 15 min | 20 min | 20 min | 25 min |
1/2 litre (US pint) | 15 min | 20 min | 20 min | 25 min |
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude (follow the table above.)
For salt substitute, Herbamare Sodium-Free was used.
For stevia, Better Stevia liquid stevia was the stevia used.
More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.
Australia and New Zealand vinegar strength special notes.
Recipe notes
- The Kitchen Bouquet is optional, for a darker colour. For a darker colour as well as a stronger flavour, you could swap the white vinegar for malt vinegar (5% or higher).
- If your cucumber is unwaxed, leave skin on. If it’s waxed, peel it.
- Instead of green and red bell peppers, you can use any colours of sweet peppers you wish. Or, if you want to give your curry relish some zing, you could work in some hotter peppers — just don’t go over the total combined weight called for of peppers.
- You can cover while bringing to a boil, but do the 30 minute simmering uncovered — the goal is both to drive acidity in to the veg, and let some of the liquidity evaporate away.

The veg should be chopped about this size.
Recipe source
Rummage Relish. In: Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 172.
Modifications made:
- Noted option for the smaller jars (same processing times);
- For the “seasoning” process, added option of Pickle Crisp for further crisping during that process, and added water (later all drained off) to make a slurry to help distribute salt / salt sub / Pickle Crisp mixture more evenly.
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 37 calories, 52 mg sodium
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 18 calories, 4 mg sodium
* Nutrition info provided by http://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
* Herbamare ® is a registered trademark of the A. Vogel Corporation.
* Pickle Crisp ® is a registered trademark of the Jarden Corporation.
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