Green tomato relish is a sweet-tangy condiment made by finely chopping firm green tomatoes with peppers and onions, then cooking them briefly in vinegar before packing the hot mixture into jars. The version below is the Pickled Green Tomato Relish from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. It is a boiling-water process for pint jars, not a pressure-canning project, and it is the right place to start if the goal is shelf-stable jars rather than a refrigerator batch.
End-of-season green tomatoes are firmer and more acidic than ripe fruit, which makes them well suited to relish. Adding onions and peppers lowers the overall acidity, so the measured vinegar in a tested recipe is what keeps the product in the safe range for water-bath canning. Untested blog recipes that cut the vinegar, add extra vegetables, or skip the process are the main reason this preserve fails either on safety or on texture.
Why this recipe is the one to follow
Many green tomato relish recipes online are written for eating within a few weeks from the refrigerator. Others give canning times that do not match a tested process. Extension specialists have flagged small-batch “hot dog relish” formulas specifically because the vinegar is low relative to the vegetables and the measurements are vague (“1 large onion”).
The NCHFP formula fixes both problems: weights and volumes are defined, vinegar is 5 percent acidity, and the process time is published by altitude. Sugar and salt can be reduced for taste. Vinegar cannot, and the amounts of tomato, pepper, and onion should not be increased.
Use tomatoes from healthy vines. Fruit from frost-killed or dead vines carries a higher microbial load and is not recommended for home canning.
Ingredients
This batch yields about 7 to 9 pints.
- 10 pounds small, hard green tomatoes
- 1½ pounds red bell peppers
- 1½ pounds green bell peppers
- 2 pounds onions
- ½ cup canning or pickling salt
- 1 quart water
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 quart vinegar, 5 percent acidity
- ⅓ cup prepared yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Hard, fully green tomatoes hold their shape better than fruit that has already started to blush. A mix of red and green peppers keeps the color from looking muddy; all-green peppers are fine if that is what you have. White, yellow, or standard storage onions all work. Canning or pickling salt dissolves cleanly; table salt with anti-caking additives can cloud the brine. Vinegar must be bottled and labeled 5 percent acidity. Apple cider vinegar and distilled white vinegar are interchangeable here if both are 5 percent. Do not use homemade vinegar.
How to make and can the relish
Set up the canner before the vegetables are ready. For a process under 10 minutes, pint jars used at or below 1,000 feet should be sterilized: boil the empty jars for 10 minutes, and keep them hot until filling. At higher elevations the longer process time sterilizes the jars, so a hot wash is enough. Lids should be prepared according to the manufacturer’s current directions. Have a jar lifter, funnel, bubble tool, and clean damp cloth ready.
Chop and salt-simmer
Wash the tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Core and seed the peppers. Coarsely grate or finely chop everything. A food processor on pulse gives an even mince without turning the mixture into paste; stop while the pieces are still distinct.
Dissolve the salt in the water and pour it over the vegetables in a large nonreactive kettle (stainless steel or enamel). Heat to boiling and simmer 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander. This short salted simmer pulls out some of the raw vegetable water so the finished relish is not soupy. Return the drained vegetables to the kettle.
Cook the relish
Add the sugar, vinegar, mustard, and cornstarch. Stir until the cornstarch is fully dispersed so it does not clump. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, stirring so the bottom does not scorch. The cornstarch is part of the tested formula; it lightly thickens the syrup. The relish will still look loose in the pot and will set further as it cools in the jars.
Pack and process
Ladle the hot relish into hot (or sterilized, if required) pint jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Run a nonmetallic tool around the inside of each jar to release trapped air, then recheck the headspace. Wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth, apply lids, and tighten bands fingertip-tight.
Place jars on the rack in a boiling-water canner with at least 1 inch of water over the lids (2 inches is safer if the canner allows it). Put the lid on, bring the water to a full rolling boil, and only then start the timer.
| Altitude | Process time, hot-packed pints |
|---|---|
| 0–1,000 ft | 5 minutes |
| 1,001–6,000 ft | 10 minutes |
| Above 6,000 ft | 15 minutes |
When the time is up, turn off the heat, remove the canner lid, and wait 5 minutes before lifting the jars. Set them on a towel with space between them. Leave them undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. A sealed lid is concave and does not flex when pressed. Remove bands, wash the jars, label them, and store in a cool, dark place. Refrigerate any jar that did not seal and use it within a few weeks. Leftover relish that did not fit in a full jar also goes in the refrigerator.
What you can change, and what you should not
Salt is for flavor and for drawing moisture, not for safety in this formula. Sugar is for balance. Both can be reduced. The relish will taste sharper if the sugar is cut a lot, and it may look slightly more watery if you also shorten the simmer, but the process time stays the same.
Do not reduce the vinegar. Do not swap in low-acid ingredients in place of part of the tomato, and do not increase the peppers or onions. Extra onion or pepper is the change most likely to push an otherwise safe relish out of the tested range. Oil has no place in a canned relish. Fresh herbs, if you want them, belong on the plate at serving time rather than in the jar.
Dry spices such as celery seed, mustard seed, or a small amount of turmeric are common in untested family recipes. The NCHFP version uses prepared mustard instead. If you want a different spice profile for canning, use another published tested relish rather than building one from a refrigerator recipe and adding a process time.
Half-pints can be processed for the same time as pints in this style of relish. Quarts are not the published jar size for this recipe; stick to pints.
Texture, color, and other common problems
Watery relish usually means the vegetables were not drained well after the salt simmer, or the pieces were cut so fine they released extra juice. Press the colander gently; do not rinse, or you wash away salt and flavor.
A thin syrup after opening is normal for this short cook. The official simmer is only 5 minutes after the vinegar goes in. Boiling much longer to “thicken it up” concentrates the batch and changes the ratio the process was written for. If a jar seems thin at serving time, drain a spoonful on the plate.
Dark or dull color often comes from overcooking, from using tomatoes that had already started to ripen, or from storing jars in the light. Firm, fully green tomatoes and a short simmer keep the color brighter. A few red peppers also make the relish look more finished without changing the method.
Siphoning (liquid forced out during processing) usually traces to headspace that was too tight, air bubbles left in the jar, bands that were too tight, or jars lifted straight from a rolling boil. The 5-minute rest after the canner is turned off reduces it. As long as the seal is sound and at least half the jar is still covered, the product is usable; refrigerate after opening as usual.
Cloudy liquid is often undissolved starch, table salt, or hard water. Whisk the cornstarch into a little of the vinegar before it hits the pot if clumping was a problem last time.
How to store and use it
Sealed jars kept below about 70°F, away from light, hold quality for roughly a year. Flavor is better after a few weeks in the jar, once the vinegar has mellowed into the vegetables. Once opened, refrigerate and use within several weeks.
This relish is built for hot dogs, burgers, grilled sausages, and baked beans. It also works next to sharp cheddar, folded into egg salad, or spooned over black-eyed peas. Because it is sweet as well as sharp, start with a small spoonful on anything already salty.
Questions people ask before they start
Can green tomato relish be pressure canned instead? This recipe is written for a boiling-water canner. Pressure canning it would overcook the texture, and there is no separate pressure process published for this formula. The vinegar is what makes the short water-bath process appropriate.
Do the tomatoes need to be peeled? No. The NCHFP directions say wash, then grate or finely chop. Skins of firm green tomatoes disappear into a fine mince.
Can the batch be halved? Yes. Keep the same ratios, especially vinegar to vegetables, and still process pints for the full time for your altitude. A half batch is easier to drain and less likely to scorch.
Is refrigerator relish an option if canning equipment is not available? Yes. The same cooked relish can be cooled and refrigerated for short-term use. That is a different product from a shelf-stable jar, and it should not be sealed and stored at room temperature without the boiling-water process.
Why does the process time look short compared with canned tomatoes? Relish is a high-acid pickle, packed hot, in small jars. Plain tomato products are less acidic and need both added acid and a much longer process. The times are not interchangeable.