r/condiments

I put it on everything. I just had it with an oxtail stew and sourdough bread.

I've been chasing this relish for a long time. The sweet, tangy, colorful kind you used to find at church potlucks and county fairs — the jar that disappeared before anything else on the table. I finally made a batch that tastes exactly like what I remember.

The step nobody talks about: the boiling water soak before you even start cooking. After you chop the peppers and onions, you pour boiling water over them, let them sit for five minutes, then drain completely. Most modern recipes skip this entirely. The Amish versions don't — and the difference is significant.

What the soak actually does: it draws out the raw harshness from the onions without cooking them, and it gives the peppers a slightly softer texture that holds up better in the brine. Skip it and your relish has that aggressive onion bite that fades after a few days in the jar but tastes sharp fresh. Do it and the relish is smooth and balanced from day one.

A few other things I figured out:

Pickling salt only — not table salt, not kosher salt. Table salt has anti-caking agents that cloud the brine and leave a slightly metallic aftertaste. Pickling salt dissolves clean and keeps the brine clear and sharp.

Don't rush the drain after the soak. Excess water in the vegetables dilutes the brine ratio and throws off the sweet-sour balance. I press the vegetables gently in a colander and let them drain a full five minutes.

Use a mix of red, yellow, and green peppers. It's not just visual — the different peppers have slightly different sweetness levels that layer the flavor. All green gives you a sharper, more vegetal result. All red is sweeter and softer. The mix is the old-fashioned way for a reason.

The brine ratio is everything. Equal parts sugar and vinegar gives you a true sweet-sour balance. Tip it more toward sugar and it becomes cloying. More vinegar and it gets sharp. The traditional Amish ratio lands in the middle and that's where it belongs.

Water bath processed for 10 minutes. Got 6 half-pint jars. Been putting it on everything — hot dogs, burgers, mixed into egg salad, spooned over cream cheese on crackers. My neighbor who grew up in Lancaster County said it tasted exactly right. That felt like a real endorsement.

Does anyone else have old-fashioned relish recipes from family or regional traditions they've been trying to recreate? I feel like this style of preserving is underappreciated.

Recipe as promised!

Ingredients (makes ~6 half-pint jars):

3 cups finely chopped mixed bell peppers (red, yellow, green)

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp pickling salt (not table salt)

½ tsp celery seed

½ tsp mustard seed

Method: Chop peppers and onion → pour boiling water over vegetables, soak 5 min → drain thoroughly and press out excess water → combine vinegar, sugar, pickling salt, seeds in pot → bring to boil → add drained vegetables → simmer 10 min → ladle into sterilized jars with ¼" headspace → water bath 10 min.

Key tip: Don't skip the boiling water soak — it removes raw harshness from the onions and sets the texture of the peppers before the brine ever touches them.

Full write-up with brine ratio guide, troubleshooting for runny or cloudy relish, and serving ideas: [Amish sweet pepper relish recipe]

I love the mature tang in tabasco sauce, and I feel that's the thing missing from other hot sauces.

Do you know what, if any, other brand would age the pepper mash in casks?

Picture taken in Avery island, which smelled of tabasco for miles and miles.