I don't know how sweet I want this, was thinking maybe following Linda Lou's recipe since I'm using coarse shred on my FP, maybe mixing more pepper and less onion since I don't care as much for onion (keeping it to under the 2.5C per finished pint), decreasing the sugar to 1.5C (same as OSU) - 2C (instead of 4.5C!) for the 6 pint yield, and increasing the vinegar (ACV, not white) to 4C for the 6 pints (same as OSU ratio).

Any recommendations? I don't want it too sweet, but don't want it really tart either, which OSU might be, so maybe I need to increase the sugar a bit over 2C if I increase the vinegar?

I'd follow processing time in Linda Lou's recipe since I'm shredding, not chopping, the veggies.

But nothing says you can't taste as you go along. You aren't locked into any specific amount of sugar so start out low and use your taste buds as it is cooking and increase as necessary. Same goes for peppers vs. onions - you can always reduce but can't increase. A relish is a blend of flavors so focusing on only one of the ingredients sort of defeats the whole purpose of making a relish.

Linda Lou's recipe always gets rave reviews so as with any recipe, trying to modify it with guess work when you haven't even tried it as written first usually only ends up ruining a recipe rather than improving it.

IMO you are going to regret the coarse shredding. It results in a very different mouth feel, an uncomfortable chewy texture for a relish that makes it more like a side-dish than a flavored condiment as most prefer, and a more dilute flavor to begin with.

Why not try making a 1/4 or 1/2 recipe of the original before trying to modify it with all these changes?

Dave

She said to run it through an old fashioned grinder, but I used essentially the large size on a box grater for the zukes. I chopped everything else by hand pretty small dice. If I ever make it again, I'll shred the ginger on a microplane grater and add it to the mix before putting in jars instead of using coins of ginger. The coins are not very tasty when you run upon one. Not terrible, just not quite as pickled.

Everything gets cooked and all the flavors meld together. So you won't taste onion or pepper specifically so much as you would miss them if they weren't there.

I've learned to try something as specified before tinkering. Just might be that the author knew what they were doing when they came up with the recipe. :-)

As for the amount of onions... I can't really distinguish their flavor from any of the other veggies...

I figure a relish is for topping hot dogs, Linda Lou's recipe is nearly identical to the local church recipe and theirs looks shredded too. I've already made JoP Piccalilli and will be doing a chow-chow. I have more squash so can do a hand-chop version (if I don't use it all in chow-chow) later.

Actually, comparing to NCHFP, the OSU recipe is the Pickle Relish I already made 6 half pints of, but using zucchini instead of cucumber specified on NCHFP website - all other ingredients and amounts are the same, OSU just subbed zukes for cukes. I chopped everything in that relish since recipe said chop not grind.

I'll probably cut the 3C of onion to 2C (for 10C of zukes, 6 pint yield) but I really didn't know how much pepper(s) to use. And it just seemed like a lot of sugar, I'll reduce to taste. I know it's tested since I found the recipe on Missouri extension site but now it's gone, just was wondering why OSU recipe used more vinegar.

Am I close in guessing 1C for "ground" (I'd probably use a small dice, not the shred disk, do it by hand not FP) for "1 bell pepper"? I don't have bells, I have Corno di Toro, Sweet Banana, Tequila Sunrise and some hot peppers.

I won't get to this for about 12 hrs after I added the peppers so they should have time to have the water drawn off. Except for the 1 Alma Paprika, these weren't as thick-walled (moist?) as bells either.

Oops - I didn't look at the recipe again last night before I chopped up the peppers, they weren't supposed to be salted and drained. I suppose this is still OK, though they might be mushier than if I'd added them to the pot?

So I took my (starting measurements) 10C of zukes, 2C of onions, 2C of peppers, salted and in fridge 12-24 hours, drained, rinsed, drained, added 2.5C ACV, 1.5C sugar, 2 tsp mustard seed, 2 tsp celery seed, and 1/2tsp ground ginger. Brought to boil and simmered 10 minutes per JoP recipe, though I could tell it was really cooking down. Put 1 2-inch cinnamon stick in each pint jar. I got 4 pints, not 7! The jars look pretty sloshy, I did top off the last one with 1Tbsp ACV to get the 1/2 inch HS.

I'm going to process these 15 min as in LL's recipe instead of the 10 min in the JoP recipe just to be safe, but is the reason I got so much less yield b/c the zukes and onions were shredded and not ground? Because there were more zukes in the ratio?

Linda Lou's recipe uses 1C more onions, I couldn't tell about the peppers, and 3C more sugar but cooks longer and yields 6 pints so I'm still about a pint off.

Should I be worried?

That 2C was 2 good-sized onions and even using the FP the tears were running down my face with the 2nd one. There were only a few shreds left in the pan (no liquid) so I didn't get a good taste, but we'll see how it is when I open it. How long does it need to mellow? I don't know if this weekend is too soon to open a jar?

Just bought 1 dozen halfpints at Walmart Monday, already filled them with tomato jam, doing more right now - went ahead and picked up 3 dozen at Target today. If I fill these up it will be 9 dozen this year.