Do you ever find yourself at some point in your warm season, with too many tomatoes to manage to eat them all fresh, but not enough to require a big ol’ preserving session. This small batch preserving recipe is for you, and your tomatoes! It is a great way to use up any wonky or less-than-perfect tomatoes too. You can make Tomato Relish Three Ways, and never be bored with your condiments again!

You can easily double or triple the base ingredients and additions too. Save your harvest over a few days or a week, keep them on a plate on the kitchen bench until you have a kilogram. Or keep them in the fridge, if they start to look a little overripe, whilst you are waiting to have a spare hour to make your relish.

This is a relatively fast way to whip up some delicious relish, especially if you are lazy like me, and don’t mind a few seeds in there. I find the skins just pretty much dissolve, or don’t affect the end result enough to make me want to peel tomatoes anyway. But if you prefer to peel your tomatoes, go right ahead!

Tomato Relish Three Ways

MAKES

about 1 to 1 1/2 cups (per recipe)

INGREDIENTS

SMOKY BARBECUE TOMATO RELISH

The Smoky Barbecue Tomato Relish is a winner on ribs, BBQ meat, nachos, or add it to some home mayo for a quick creamy dressing or dipping sauce. You can also puree and sieve this relish (or put it through a mouli) to make Smoky BBQ Sauce. It has quite the kick, but you can always reduce or leave out the chipotle powder.

• 500gms of fresh tomatoes (any type works, cherry, grape, heirloom, wonky, slightly damaged)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic infused oil
• 1 teaspoon roast onion infused oil
• 1 tablespoon raw, organic sugar
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar, or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon mild mustard (or mustard powder)
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chilli powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 to 2 bay leaves

HERB & GARLIC TOMATO RELISH

The Herb & Garlic Tomato Relish is fantastic with BBQ meats, or served with ham. It can be used as a pizza sauce, or as a delicious pasta sauce, or an added boost to Bolognese sauce. It would be perfect on a cheese platter or ploughman’s lunch, with vintage cheese and gluten free bread. You can also puree this relish, put it through a sieve (or mouli) and turn it into Tomato Sauce.

• 500gms of fresh tomatoes (any type works, cherry, grape, heirloom, wonky, slightly damaged)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic infused oil
• 1 teaspoon roast onion infused oil
• 1 tablespoon raw, organic sugar
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano (or chopped fresh oregano leaves)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, stems discarded)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon mild mustard, or mustard powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

ROAST CAPSICUM AND TOMATO RELISH

The Roast Capsicum and Tomato Relish is perfect for any tex-mex or Mexican style meals, like nachos, tacos, loaded wedges, stuffed baked potatoes, or simply serve it with corn chips and chile con queso.

• 500gms of fresh tomatoes (any type works, cherry, grape, heirloom, wonky, slightly damaged)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic infused oil
• 1 teaspoon roast onion infused oil
• 1 tablespoon raw, organic sugar
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 long hot red chilli (i.e. cayenne), roasted or chargrilled until tender (you can remove all, or leave some of the blackened skin on, but remove stem), finely diced
• 1 red capsicum, roasted or chargrilled until tender (you can remove all, or leave some of the blackened skin on, but remove stem and seeds), diced
• Juice from 1 lime (about 1 tbsp.)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
• 2 tablespoons fresh coriander

METHOD

1. Chop the tomatoes, or put them through a food processer  – just core the larger ones, but you don’t have to peel or de-seed the tomatoes (unless you are inclined to do so) – note, if I am putting them through the ‘chipper blade’ of my food processor, I don’t even bother coring them!
2. Put tomatoes in a large, microwave proof glass bowl (allow a big enough bowl/ jug with room for the relish to rise as it cooks/ boils), or a medium to  large saucepan
3. Add the oils, sugar, vinegar, flavourings and salt (remember to double or triple them if you are using 1kg or 1.5kg of tomatoes)
4. Microwave version: cook on high for 10 minute intervals. After each 10 minute cooking period, you can stir and check until you think it is done. At first there will be more liquid as the tomatoes start to break down, but then you will see less liquid as the relish thickens up. It will continue to thicken up a bit more as it cools. If you intend to make sauce from this, do not cook it until it is super thick. For a single batch (using 500gm tomatoes) it took about 30 minutes. For a double batch (1kg) allow 50 minutes. For a triple batch (1.5kg) cook up to 1 hour and 10 minutes. (It depends on your microwave wattage, how juicy your tomatoes are, how thick you want the end result etc.)
5. Stovetop version: cook over medium to high heat for 35 to 45 minutes for a single batch, allowing longer if you have doubled or tripled the amounts. Stir frequently.
6. Remove any bay leaves.
7. If you have made a single batch, which you intend to eat within a week, you can spoon it in to a hot, clean jar or container, and keep in the fridge.

TO PRESERVE

To learn more about bottling, please refer to my Beginners Guide to Boiling Water Bath Preserving. If you want to double or triple the recipe (it will make 2 to 3 x 250ml jars), and bottle or ‘can’ it, please note these relish recipes have been tested for their pH level using litmus paper only, with a ‘high acid’ level (pH less than 4.6). Similar tested recipes from trusted sites are below.

• Homemade Barbecue Sauce by Food in Jars, Barbecue Sauce by NCHFP, or Barbecue Sauce by Ball Fresh Preserving
• Tomato and Green Chile Salsa by NCHFP, Charred Tomato and Chile Salsa by Canning for a New Generation, Fresh Salsa, Simple House Salsa (p.12), Spicy Tomato Salsa (p.205), Roasted Tomato and Chipotle Salsa (p. 206), and Zesty Salsa (p. 207) by Fresh Preserving, or from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving or Basic Tomato Salsa (p. 152) from Food in Jars original book
• Tomato Bruschetta in a Jar, Basil Garlic Tomato Sauce, and Antipasto Relish by Ball Fresh Preserving

NOTES

• If you use 1kg of tomatoes, don’t forget to double those measurements of the additions. Or for 1.5kg tomatoes, triple the measurements for the additions.
• The flavours will become more pronounced as it cooks, so don’t taste test it or add more spice/ chilli/ salt until near the end of cooking.
• You can find out more about Low FODMAPs here. If you don’t need a Low FODMAP version, you can use 2 crushed garlic cloves, and 1 diced small onion per 500gm, instead of the oils
• To easily slip the charred skins off capsicums and chillies, place them into a bowl or container with a lid or plate over them after charring, and the heat/ moisture will steam them and the charred skins become loose and easier to remove
• If you prefer a milder relish, you can remove & discard the seeds and white inners/ pith from chillies, but don’t forget to wear gloves or do the no-touch technique
• You can use a small amount of oil when preserving.