Dill Pickle Relish

With a little help from my Facebook followers and The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving I'm sharing the perfect canning recipe for Dill Pickle Relish. 

Thank you to everyone that shared their jars in order to make this a community effort! Thank you Vicki, Terresa, and Bernice for your pictures and variations on the recipe! 

Dill Pickle Relish
(yield ~7pint jars)

8 lbs pickling cucumbers
1/2 cup pickling or canning salt (kosher will work also)
2 t. ground turmeric
4 cups water
2 1/2 cups onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup sugar
2 t. dill seed
4 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)

Preparation: Prepare 7 pint jars in hot water. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, working in batches, finely chop cucumbers, transferring batches to a glass or stainless steel bowl as they are completed. Sprinkle with picking salt and turmeric. Add water, cover, and let stand in a cool place for 2 hours. Transfer to a colander placed over a sink and drain thoroughly. Rinse with cool water and drain thoroughly again. Using your hands, squeeze out excess liquid.

Cooking: In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine drained cucumbers, onions, sugar, dill seeds and vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and vegetables are heated through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. 

Processing: Ladle hot relish into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Remove air bubbles and refill if necessary. Wipe rims, and add hot lids and rings. Place the jars in the water bath making sure that the water covers each of the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add hot water to the canner if it doesn't measure up. Cover the pot and turn up the heat under the canner and wait for the water to start boiling. Once the water has come to a boil start your timer for 15 minutes. When complete turn off the heat and remove the cover and let the jars sit for another few minutes. Remove the jars and place them back on the dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Sometime in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal.

Jeannie's Dill Pickle Relish!  Terresa's Hot Dill Pepper Relish!  Made with hot peppers. Vicki's Chunky style Dill Relish! Add caption