Relishing pickles, pickling relish

Today I had a day off, so I decided to go for some pickle relish to use up the copious amounts of cucumbers I've had. Most of my canning recipes have been quick enough that I could make them on a week night, but this one takes a while.

First, chop up the cukes, onions, and peppers. I used CSA cukes, Susie's Garden Patch green and purple peppers, and vidalia onions from the grocery store.

You chop it all up, then soak it in pickling salt and ice for four hours. Then drain and soak for another hour. Like I said, it's time intensive.

The brine is a mixture of sugar and vinegar - less sugar than pickles I've made. The recipe basically calls for you to make a spice sachet rather than put the spices directly into the brine, so I put the spices in a coffee filter and bound it with a rubber band. I used turmeric, dill seed, fennel seed, and ground cloves.

I canned it before I flipped to the next page of the printed recipe, which calls for you to leave the mixture in the fridge for 24 hours before canning. Whoops!! I'm sure it'll still be good.

Still waiting to see if the seals took, but everything I've canned so far has worked. The pickle relish is in the two cans to the left, and the four cans to the right are pickles from my aunt's recipe.

If you can't tell, I've had an epic amount of cucumbers to deal with this summer. Gotta use em' up!