You'll Be So Glad You Made Colorful Corn Relish

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Homemade Corn Relish Canning Recipe

Corn relish is as tasty as it is beautiful! Unlike commercially purchased corn relish, this has no thickener, so it stays light and refreshing! It captures the cheerful colors of summer and the crunch of fresh veggies in a wonderfully tangy, slightly salty vinegar and sugar syrup.

I love researching recipe origins, and it always makes me chuckle a little. How can corn relish be fundamental to Midwestern cuisine, Southern in origin, German, and created by the Pennsylvania Dutch all at the same time?

I think it's because everyone wants bragging rights on something so yummy!

Perfect On A Hot Dog Or The Thanksgiving Dinner Table

Once you've made a batch of corn relish, what do you do with it? Great question! Corn relish can be down-home or uptown.

It's considered a condiment, not a side dish, and makes a wonderful accompaniment for any meat or poultry. It's also terrific served with tortilla chips or soup and sandwiches, tastes amazing on crab cakes, and is perfect for topping hot dogs!!

The United States was the first Western country to embrace the regular consumption of corn and has remained one of the world's largest corn producers and consumers.

Throughout much of Europe, corn was traditionally considered peasant food and reserved for livestock feed. Americans, meanwhile, cleverly pioneered many corn-based dishes and recipes, including corn relish. Lucky us, right?

How To Make A Fresh Batch Of Perfect Corn Relish

Before you begin canning anything, make sure you have everything ready in your workspace: a long-handled spoon for stirring, a ladle, jars, rings, a canning funnel, a clean, damp cloth, and your jar lifter.

I like to put a thick old towel on my countertop to catch drips and pad the surface. Remember to check the depth of the pots you will use to treat the relish with a boiling water bath.*

We'll start making corn relish the same way we prepare corn for the freezer. When I was "putting up" corn this week, I saved 10 cups of blanched kernels to make relish!

Here's what you do in brief: Once you have removed the husks and silks from the corn, drop it briefly in boiling water, a few ears at a time. Allow it to cook for 7-11 minutes.

Then, remove the ears and place them in very cold water to stop the cooking process. When the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off the cob and set the corn aside while you chop the other veggies.

Of course, you can blanch just enough corn for this recipe. An average of 15-20 ears of corn yields 10 cups. If you blanch too much, you get to eat it! Yay! It's so sweet and crunchy!

I like to saute extra or leftover corn in a little butter, then add kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, and some finely chopped green onion. Yum!

Next, chop up some peppers; the more colorful they are, the better! I used only orange and red peppers this year because they are sweeter, and I needed to add color!

You'll also need to chop some celery and onions.

Before you go further, fill a canner or tall stockpot about half full of water. *Check to be sure the pot you use is tall enough to allow boiling water to cover the jar with the lid on by one inch for a proper seal.

If your water is hard, add vinegar to prevent lime from forming on the jars. For this batch, my daughter and I used two tall stockpots for the water bath. Each held five wide-mouth pint jars snugly!

Now that everything has been shucked, blanched, seeded, and chopped, it's time to bring it all together in a big, heavy pot! We used my big blue Le Creuset Dutch Oven; it worked beautifully! The pot you use should hold six to eight quarts.

Begin by combining the vinegar, sugar, canning salt, celery seed, mustard, and turmeric. Slowly bring to a boil, occasionally stirring until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.

Add the onion, peppers, corn, and celery and heat on medium-high until the mixture boils. Then turn down the heat and cook gently, uncovered, for five minutes while you line up your jars, flats, screw-on rings, jar lifter, and a clean, damp dishcloth.

Remove the pot from the heat and ladle the relish into clean pint jars. Leave 1/2 inch headspace. Carefully wipe the rim of the jar with a clean, damp dishcloth. Apply a canning flat and ring, screw into place, and hand tighten the lids.

Use the canning jar lifter to lower the hot jars into the boiling water bath. If needed, add boiling water to cover the jars by one inch! Process for 20 minutes in the boiling water bath. Turn off the heat.

Use the jar lifter to remove the jars from the water bath onto a cooling rack or thick towel on the countertop. Leave an inch between the jars and let them cool completely before you touch them. As they seal, you will hear the satisfying "ping" of the lids as they form a tight vacuum seal.

If a jar doesn't seal, you can remove the lid, wipe the rim, try a new lid, and reprocess. Or refrigerate the jar and use the relish within about two weeks!

Corn relish makes a wonderful gift. Kids love it because it's not too spicy! Why not make an extra batch so you have plenty to share? Hint: include a bag of tortilla chips or a package of brats and buns for the hostess at your next "5th quarter" get-together!

PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD

Yield: 10 pints

Corn Relish

Print

Corn relish captures the cheerful colors of summer and the crunch of fresh celery, peppers, onion, and corn in a wonderfully tangy, slightly salty vinegar and sugar syrup.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 10 cups of blanched corn kernels (15 to20 average ears of corn)
• 5 cups of finely diced bell peppers of any color. The more color, the better!
• 2 1/2 cups finely diced celery
• 1 1/2 cups finely diced onion
• 2 cups sugar  
• 2 1/2 Tbsp canning salt
• 2 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 5 cups of apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
• 2 1/2 Tbsp dry mustard
• 1 1/4 tsp turmeric

Instructions

1. Remove the husks and the silks from the corn.
2. Drop briefly in boiling water a few ears at a time. Allow it to cook for 7-11 minutes.
3. Remove the ears of corn and place them in very cold water to stop the cooking process.
4. Cut the kernels off the cob when the corn is cool enough to handle.
5. Set the corn aside while you chop the other veggies.
6. Fill a tall stockpot or canner about halfway full of water. You may need two stockpots or do the water bath process in two batches.
7. Set stockpot(s) on heat and bring to a gentle boil. If your water is hard, add vinegar to the water bath to help prevent lime from forming on the jars.
8. Chop celery, peppers, and onion.
9. Combine the vinegar, sugar, canning salt, celery seed, mustard, and turmeric in a large 6 to 8-quart pot.
10. Slowly bring to a boil, occasionally stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve completely.
11. Add onion, peppers, celery, and corn and heat on medium-high until the mixture is bubbling,
12. Allow the relish to simmer gently, uncovered, for five minutes.
13. Remove from heat and ladle the relish into clean, sterile pint jars. Leave 1/2 inch headspace.
14. Use a clean damp cloth to wipe the rim of the jar, apply a lid, and screw on the ring. Tighten by hand.
15. Use a jar lifter to lower into a hot water bath.
16. Boiling water must cover the jars by one inch. Add more boiling water if needed.
17. Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
18. Remove from heat.
19. Use a jar lifter to remove jars from the boiling water and set them on a cooling rack or countertop padded with a thick towel. Leave at least an inch between jars.
20. Allow the jars to cool undisturbed for 12 hours.
21. You will hear a ping sound as the jars seal.
22. If jars do not seal, you can put on a new lid and reprocess or store the relish in the refrigerator and use it within two weeks.

Corn is one of summer's most wonderful gifts, and while it's abundant, we eat as much as we can, as often as we can! Here are two recipes using corn that we love: Sweet Corn Salad and Corn Fritters. And here is how to freeze corn to enjoy in the winter. It tastes freshly picked!

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Love, GB (Betty Streff)

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