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Sherrie Norris Lovin’ Spoonful Cooking Column: Harvest Season Nearing An End

By Sherrie Norris

The local gardening season is on its way out. For some, that’s a relief after many hours spent in big gardens in the hot sun, followed by long hours over the stoves while canners are going full steam. It’s been a productive year, by all accounts, and now, many shelves and freezers are lining up with jars and containers of goods to see us through another winter. At our house, we did not do the big gardens like we have in the past, but are thankful for those generous neighbors on both sides who have shared their bounty with us. Those of us who live in the country will thankfully not go hungry.

As things begin to unwind for another year, there are those seasonal relishes and mixtures that add to the otherwise traditional canning of corn, beans, tomatoes, etc. So, hopefully, there’s still time to get these concoctions in the jars and on your pantry shelves for the upcoming winter. Enjoy!

Harvest Relish
10 ears corn
2 small cabbages
5 onions3 hot peppers
4 Tbs. salt
4 Tbs. flour1½ cup sugar4 cups vinegar
3 Tbs. mustard
Cook corn; cool and cut from cob. Add chopped cabbage, onions and peppers. Mix dry ingredients; add vinegar. Pour over vegetables and simmer for 40 minutes. Pour into hot jars and seal.

Amish Cabbage Salad

(Marinated Slaw)

1 gallon shredded cabbage

1 Tbs. salt

1 medium-sized onion, diced up

1 cup green peppers, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1½ cups white sugar

¾ cup white vinegar

¾ cups vegetable oil

Put shredded cabbage in a dish or pan and spread out until 1½ inches thick. Shake salt over surface of cabbage. Do not stir for one hour. Then add onion, peppers and celery. Stir well. In a medium saucepan, bring to boil sugar, vinegar, and oil. Pour over cabbage mixture while still boiling. Refrigerate. Do not stir until cold

Once cold, stir well and store in glass container. It keeps for days in the refrigerator and stays really crisp.

Squash Pickles

8 cups sliced squash

2 cups sliced onion

1 Tbs. non-iodized salt

1 cup diced green bell pepper

2 cups cider vinegar

3 ½ cups sugar

1 tsp. celery seeds

1 tsp. mustard seeds

Combine squash and onion. Sprinkle with salt and let stand 1 hour. Combine green pepper, vinegar, sugar, seeds. Mix and bring to boil. Pack sterilized canning jars; seal and adjust rings. Starting timer when water returns to a boil with jars in it, process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner for altitudes over 1,000 feet. (5 minutes if you are doing this off the mountain below 1,000 feet!) 

Simple Salsa In A Jar

8 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 cups onions, chopped fine

1 to 2 cups green peppers

1 to 2 cups Jalapeno peppers (depending on how “warm” you like your salsa!)

1 cup vinegar

3½ tsp. salt

Boil 30 minutes; put into jars and heat in hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Hamburger Relish

1 peck ripe tomatoes

4 large peppers

4 large onions

1 cup salt

1 qt. vinegar

2 lbs. sugar

3 Tbs. celery seed

3 Tbs. mustard seed

Peel tomatoes and chop with onions and peppers; add salt. Let drain 24 hours in a cloth bag. Then empty into a pan, add sugar, vinegar, mustard seed and celery seed. Heat and put into jars. May need a few minutes in hot water bath if jars do not seal.

Old-Timey Green Tomato Sandwich Spread

1 qt. green tomatoes, finely chopped

1 qt. onions, finely chopped

1 qt. vinegar

1 qt. mayonnaise

1 qt. red and green peppers, finely chopped

¾ cup salt

1 qt. sugar

Cover tomatoes, peppers and onions with salt. Let stand overnight. Drain, add vinegar and sugar. Cook 25 minutes. Cool, add mayonnaise, fill pint jars and place in hot water bath about 10 minutes to seal.