Switching Gears to a few of my family's favorite recipes

Cucumber Chutney (Pickle Relish)

7 lbs of cucumbers do not peel (small ones with fewer seeds are best - if you use the large cucumbers then remove some of the seeds before grinding)
7 large onions
6 large green peppers
2 jars of pimentos (or 2 large red peppers - I prefer pimentos - just really for color)
8 cups of boiling water
1 1/4 cups of salt

Grind all vegetables coarsely - a meat grinder works best but since I don't have one, I use my food processor. If you use a food processor with the shredder attachment the relish will be a bit stringy, but will still taste the same.

Add salt to pot as water boils to dissolve salt.

After all vegetables are ground poor salt water (brine) over vegetables and let stand (off stove) for 4-6 hours.

4 cups of vinegar
1 cup of water
6 cups of sugar
2 TBS mustard seed
2 TBS celery seed
2 TBS turmeric

If the relish is too sweet, you can reduce the sugar by 1 cup or add 1 more cup of vinegar. It really does not matter how much juice there is - you only have to can as much (or as little) juice as you want.

Drain vegetable thoroughly - very thoroughly! You can rinse too if you like to remove a bit of the salt. If you rinse, remember to drain very thoroughly again.

Pour vinegar/sugar mixture over vegetable mixture and boil on medium heat 30-40 minutes stirring often to insure the bottom does not burn.

Pour into hot canning jars and seal.

Best way to get jars to seal.

Boil about 2 cups of water and put "flats" in the water (do not continue to boil). Wash jars in dishwasher. When dishwasher is in "dry mode" remove one or two at at time and add relish to about 1/2 from the top of the jar. With a damp clean towel or damp paper towel clean the rim of the jar so it is totally free of any juice of relish. Place the hot flat lid on the jar - screw on the lid tightly and set aside. Continue until you use up all the relish. Do not put jars right next to each other - they need room to breath. Listen for the pop of the lids (sometimes takes an hour or more for them to seal). You can tell the jar is sealed properly if you press in the center of the flat and can tell it has been sucked down (make sure to allow enough time 1-3 hours). If one or more of the jars do not seal, you can reheat the relish and clean the jar again and repeat. Usually if only one jar does not seal, I just put it in the fridge!

After the jars are sealed, you can put in the cupboard and they will keep 2-3 years as long as the seal has not been broken.