The 3 relish recipes I found on NCHFP also call for salting the veggies overnight, so I think I should do that too, though it looks like it would reduce the yield by half. I wonder about that too, since it contains only 12C of veggies compared to Fall Garden Relish that has 14C, maybe the water released into the pot by salting but not draining isn't all boiled off? Of course that would make it much less acidic than the NCHFP recipes.

Would just making this recipe but salting overnight and BWBing be OK? Too many onions?

4 cups chopped green cabbage

4 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped green bell peppers

2 cups chopped red and/or yellow bell peppers

4 cups cider vinegar

4 cups granulated sugar

4 Tablespoons table salt

3 Tablespoons mustard seed (1.4 oz. container)

2 teaspoons celery seed

sliced jalapeno peppers to taste (see note)

1. Mix together all ingredients in a pot and cover with cloth. Let stand at room temperature over night. Stir occasionally.

INSTEAD - Per Fall Garden Relish recipe "Combine washed chopped vegetables; sprinkle with the 3 tablespoons salt. Let stand 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. Drain well. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices; simmer 10 minutes. Add vegetables; simmer another 10 minutes. Bring to a boil. "

2. To can, bring mixture to a rolling boil while stirring. Reduce heat to low. Place in hot jars making sure that veggies are covered by 1⁄2 inch of liquid. Cover jars with hot lids and rings.

INSTEAD - "Pack boiling hot relish into hot jars, leaving � inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a Boiling Water Canner 10 minutes (0 - 1000ft)."

3. For a good seal, turn jars upside down (NOT) until they have cooled. Check each jar lid for proper seal.

The family recipe has a little more (1/4C) vinegar and more sugar (to my taste that could be cut down) than the similar Fall Garden Relish, but I'm concerned about the onions and peppers. I was going to try to sub bok choy for cabbage but I may end up buying cabbage.

Of course I can adjust the Fall Garden Relish to taste by omitting low-acid ingredients (I may sneak the green tomatoes in on my dad), but I'm also looking for an answer if this is safe as written (of course realizing that seals may fail due to inversion method) since my parents often get jars of this as gifts. I'm thinking that if it yields 8 pints it might be too much water left in the pot/jars.

For comparison, Fall Garden Relish

1 quart chopped cabbage (about 1 small head)
3 cups chopped cauliflower (about 1 medium head)
2 cups chopped green tomatoes (about 4 medium)
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped sweet green peppers (about 4 medium)
1 cup chopped sweet red peppers (about 2 medium)
3¾ cups vinegar (5%)
3 tablespoons canning salt
2¾ cups sugar
3 teaspoons celery seed
3 teaspoons dry mustard
1½ teaspoons turmeric

Yield: About 4 pint jars

I note you are always wanting to reduce onions and/or sugar. That is YOUR taste preference and isn't shared by all, perhaps not even by most. But it isn't a safety issue, it is strictly personal taste.

If you are making it for your Dad why not just make it to HIS taste and make it as written?

Is overnight soaking better than a few hours? More salt rather than less better? Sure, but again isn't a safety issue.

Dave

I shouldn't have asked "too many onions?" but "too many onions, peppers?" (I did say I was concerned about onions and peppers, I know sugar isn't an issue) and again I was wondering if the main problem might be water in the pot diluting the vinegar - this is supposed to make 8 pints, the NCHFP recipe makes only 4, and starts out with only 2C more veggies. All 3 NCHFP relishes using cabbage are *drained* and the family recipe is not. Since the yield is so much more in the family recipe, does that mean that there are 2.75 pints more water in this recipe that didn't get drained out? I'm concerned about the pH of the jars my parents receive.