Vidalia Onion Relish

This morning I was pleased to see a post on my FB page of a Vidalia Onion Relish that looked so tasty. I asked Bea for the recipe and whether I could use the pictures of her incredible jars. This recipe is simple and works perfectly with the sweetest of the onions, Vidalia. It's a great addition to bratwurst, hamburgers, sliders, polish and hot dogs, and would be just a bit of sweet tang flavor in a grilled roast beef sandwich. 

Bea told me that her hubby Tom peeled 50 pounds of onions for this project and whole and quartered ones in the freezer! Thanks Tom for being such a trooper! 

Vidalia Onion Relish

1 1/2 gal. sliced Vidalia onions (14 to 16 med. onions)

1/2 c. salt

1 qt. cider vinegar

1 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. pickling spice

1 tsp. pimento, chopped

4 1/2 c. sugar

Preparation : Prepare 8 pints, lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till its time for processing. Make sure to fill your water bath canner and get the water to a simmer. Cut your onions in half and using a food processor slice the onions thinly or use the shredding blade. If you have a mandolin you could do it on the thin slice. Add 1/2 cup salt; let stand 30 minutes. Squeeze juice from onion-salt mixture and discard.  

Cooking: In a large stainless steel pot add onions, vinegar, sugar, spices, and pimento. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat.

Filling the jars:  On a dishtowel place your hot jars and using your funnel in each jar using a ladle then fill the jars leaving ½” headspace.   Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper headspace with the liquid brine if necessary. 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 10 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: Some time 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.