Cut very fine as for relish, 6 large cukes, peeled, seeds removed. Add 1/4c. salt, let stand over night. Drain in the morning and add 1qt. onions, finely chopped.
Mix together: 2c sugar, 3TBsp flour, 1 TBsp mustard, 1 TBsp tumeric, 1 pt. vinegar. Cook until thickened. Add 1 tsp. mustard seed 1 tsp celery seed. Mix well. Bottle and seal.
This is from a 1977 NB Home Economics cookbook, with the notation that my father bought it for my grandmother that Christmas. On this recipe, there is a notation “20 Aug 1995 partly” and next to the title, she wrote in “pickles recipe book”.
So, how did I make this? Thought you’d love to know.
I dug out all the cukes I could find – the bunch in the fridge in the bottom drawer, a couple that had slices cut off, and the rest of varying sizes Ron had brought in. Some had started to turn yellow, some were small, some were round balls, but I used them all. I had 6 large and other assorted cucumber, and I wound up with about double the amount listed above.
I ran them all through my food processor to grate them, and dumped over top the rest of a bag of coarse (kosher) salt I had. I guesstimated there was almost a 1/2c. left in the bag. There were put in a very large stainless steel bowl I have. I grated them because I like this relish cut very fine.
I left them there all night, and indeed clear until after lunch the next day. Good thing we tossed a dishtowel over the bowl. I drained them and drained some more, letting the cukes sit in the colander over a bowl to drip while I mixed up the sauce. Even though I had double the cukes, I did NOT double the sauce.
Then I remembered the onions. Oops. While the sauce was heating up, (I also left off mustard seed and celery seed) I sliced up five onions. Then I tossed everything in the pot to thicken & cook while Meaghan dug out glass bottles and lids. I boiled up the lids and jars, too, stirring the other pot every so often.
One thing to note: turmeric will stain plastic a nice shade of yellow.
Finally, everything was ready at once, the bottles were lined up hot on the counter, and the mixture was thick. I ladled the hot relish into hot bottles, wiped off edges and tossed on those canning lids. All but one small jar sealed.
Notes: you could add pretty much whatever you wanted to this, I guess. Afterwards, we realized we still have one lonely zuchinni which we could have tossed in. I’ve seen a variation where it called for one sweet red pepper, which would make a nice patch of color.
I make those but add red peppers too it. Even yummier!