Corn & Cucumber Relish

It's time to get busy here in Las Vegas as produce is ready for the first round to harvest. I was given many pounds of cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans from a friend who was coming from a farm she found. I was looking for something new to make and found a recipe in the "Complete Book of Pickling" that sounded not only easy but great tasting. This was a little different from my other corn relishes and it was the perfect way to use a bunch of cucumbers. 

Corn & Cucumber Relish

1 3/4 cups Sugar

2 T. pickling or canning salt

2 T. dry mustard

1 T. celery seed

1/4 t. ground black pepper

2 3/4 cups white vinegar

6 cups cooked corn kernels

2 cups finely chopped onions

1 cup finely chopped celery

4 cups finely chopped pickling cucumbers

Preparation: Prepare 5-6 pint lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till its time for processing. Chop onions, celery, and cucumbers. Put celery and onions in a separate bowl.

Cooking: In a large stainless steel or enameled Dutch combine sugar, salt, mustard, celery seeds, pepper, and vinegar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often until sugar and salt are dissolved. Increase heat and add corn, onions, and celery; return to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring often for about 20 minutes till onions and celery are tender. Stir in cucumbers, boil gently for about 15 minutes or until cucumbers are translucent and mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. 

Filling the jars:  On a dishtowel place your hot jars and using your funnel in each jar. Filling to 1/2" headspace. Remove air bubbles with a non-metallic utensil. Refill with liquid to fill to the correct headspace.  Taking a clean papertowel wet it with warm water and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight".

Processing: Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and 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.