Sweetcorn Relish

Keeping with the preserving and pickling theme that I seem to be writing a lot about at the minute, I thought that I would try making sweetcorn relish using the sweetcorn that I had stored in the freezer. There were a vast amount of recipes that I could follow, each offering differing ingredients and methods, but I decided to use the recipe supplied by the famous Mrs Beeton.

I trust her recipes to turn out exactly as she states and because she uses ingredients that are widely available, anyone can follow her recipes with confidence. This particular recipe was taken from the book ‘Mrs Beeton’s Pantry’.

The only adaption that I made to the recipe was that I added about 2 teaspoons of brown mustard seeds and about an extra 100ml of white vinegar.

The recipe made about 7 decent sized jars that should store for well up to a year!

2 peppers (red or green)
2 large carrots, diced
2 large onions, chopped
6 celery sticks
salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
30ml/2 tbsn mustard powder
5ml/1 tsp turmeric
15ml/1 tbsn cornflour
600ml/1 pint white vinegar
900g/2lb frozen sweetcorn, thawed
100g/4 oz sugar

Place the peppers, carrots, onion and celery in a abowl, sprinkling each layer with a little salt.  Sprinkle more salt on top of the vegetables, cover the bowl and leave them to satnd overnight.

After 24 hours, drain, rinse, then drain again and dry the vegetables.  Place the vegetables in a large saucepan with the garlic.  In a cup blend the mustard, turmeric and cornflour with a little of the vinegar to make a paste.  pour the rest of the vinegar into the oan and bring the vegetable mixture to the boil.

Reduce the heat and cover the pan, then simmer the mixture for 5 minutes.  Add the sweetcorn and cook, covered, for a further 5 minutes.  Stir in the sugar and cook gently, stirring until it has dissolved.

Spoon a little of the hot liquid into the mustard mixture, then stir the thin paste into the relish.   Add 1 tsp salt and stir well.  Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, then lower the heat and simmer steadily, for 5 minutes without the lid on the pan.  Pot and cover at once, into sterilised jars, label and store for at least a week  The relish will keep for between 6-9 months.

Although the recipe states to leave for at least 1 week until it has matured, this tastes fab straight out of the pan.  We’ll be lucky if this batch lasts the month!

Happy cookin’

Debb

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