Thousand Island Dressing has lived on, but Thousand Island Relish has largely been lost to history.
You can revive this old relish in your own kitchen, though.
We’re not certain of the exact culinary historical origins of this recipe, or just how old it is, but it has been kicking around Canadian kitchens along the St Lawrence River in handwritten form for several generations now. And it almost certainly was kicking around in relatives’ kitchens on the American side of the river, too. This rendition of the recipe has been tested to modern USDA canning safety standards for heat penetration, density, pH, seal, etc, by Canadian Living. (See: Canadian Living as a reputable source of lab-tested recipes.)
This recipe makes a lot; you may wish to cut the recipe in half unless you have a lot of friends who’d love a jar for summer cookouts.
44 calories, 79 mg sodium per 2 tablespoons. (A sugar and salt-free take on it would be 16 calories, 2 mg sodium, per 2 tablespoons.)
The 1000 islands, near Alexandria, New York. (Bill Blevins / flickr / 2007 / CC BY 2.0. )
Contents
The recipe
Jar size choices: Quarter-litre (1/2 US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 12 x quarter-litre (1/2 US pint) jars
Headspace: 2 cm (1/2 inch)
Processing time: 10 minutes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Yield: 12 x ¼ litre (1/2 US pint / 8 oz / 250 ml) jars
Serving size: 2 tablespoons
Calories: 16
Fat: .2 g
- 3 kg cucumber (6 pounds / 6 large)
- 1 kg onion (2 lbs / 6 large)
- 150 g finely chopped red bell pepper (Measured after seeding, chopping. 1 cup / 1 large / 5 oz)
- 150 g finely chopped green bell pepper (Measured after seeding, chopping. 1 cup / 1 large / 5 oz)
- 4 tablespoons pickling salt OR 2 tablespoons salt sub
- 1 tablespoon Pickle Crisp (optional)
- ½ cup flour (2.5 oz / 70 g)
- 3 tablespoons dry mustard powder
- 2 tablespoons additional salt sub (if NOT using salt)
- 1½ teaspoons turmeric
- 1½ teaspoons mustard seed
- 1½ teaspoons celery seed
- 250 ml water (1 cup / 8 oz)
- 750 ml white vinegar (5% or higher. 3 cups / 24 oz)
- 700 g white sugar (3 cups / 24 oz) OR 3 teaspoons liquid stevia
- Wash, peel and seed the cucumber and chop it finely.
- Put in very large pot or bowl.
- Peel and chop the onion finely; add to bowl.
- Wash, seed and chop the peppers finely; add to bowl.
- Sprinkle over the vegetable mixture the salt OR salt sub, and the Pickle Crisp (optional).
- Pour enough cold water over the mixture to cover it; mix with your hands or a sturdy spoon.
- Let stand, covered, for 1 to 2 hours, then drain well.
- In a very large heavy pot, mix together the dry ingredients: the flour, mustard powder, 2 tablespoons of salt sub (only if doing salt free), turmeric, mustard seed, and celery seed.
- Now add in the wet ingredients gradually, stirring to make a sauce: the water, the vinegar and the sugar OR the liquid stevia.
- Add in the drained veg, stir.
- Put pot on stove burner, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Pack hot into quarter-litre (1/2 US pint / 250 ml) jars.
- Leave 2 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jar for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
- Best after at least a month of jar time.
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
- Trim off both ends of cucumbers; this is to get rid of an enzyme that could make your relish go soft.
- To seed the cucumber, cut it lengthwise and drag the tip of a spoon along the centre.
- To chop the cucumber, you can cut the peeled, seeded into chunks, pop in a food processor and use the pulse button.
- For the flour, use plain flour or all-purpose (i.e. don’t use self-rising.) Feel free to cut back a bit on the flour, by up to half, even, for a less thick relish.
- You can use all one colour of a pepper; the two different colours are just for look.
- The purpose of the soaking here is to infuse the vegetable with flavour, and, if you are using the Pickle Crisp, to crisp it up a bit.
Recipe source
Thousand Island Relish. Canadian Living Test Kitchen. The Complete Preserving Book. Montreal, Canada: Transcontinental Books. 2012. Page 178.
Note: This recipe is lightly thickened with flour. While it generally isn’t considered safe to thicken home-canned products with flour, the exception is if the recipe has been lab-tested for safety by professionals, as this one has been. So enjoy!
All Canadian Living home canning recipes are lab-tested to meet or exceed Bernardin and USDA standards for quality and safety.
Safety Check
Thousand Island Relish has a pH of 3.77, tested using 25 g solids, 50 ml distilled water. Well below upper safety cut-off of 4.6 pH.
Nutrition information
Regular version
Per 2 tablespoons / 30 ml:
- 44 calories, 79 mg sodium
Sugar and salt-free version
Per 2 tablespoons / 30 ml:
- 16 calories, 2 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 1 to 2 tablespoons, 0 points. 3 to 8 tablespoons, 1 point; 9 to 13 tablespoons, 2 points.
* Nutrition info provided by https://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.
I am taking a Canadian roadtrip this summer from Maine, through Canada, to Michigan. I have never been across the border before. If I was to visit farmers markets and buy canned goods such as this, am I allowed to take them back across the border if they are unopened??