Relish! Anyone have favourite or unique versions?

I made relish for the first time this year, and have been eating a ton. I think it's the first time I've ever canned a 'convenience food' that I actually use. I found relish easier to make than pickles, and more useful, to boot!

Some things I use it for:

Relish + mayo + tuna/leftover meat = tuna, chicken, or pork salad sandwich. Also great with rice instead of bread.

Relish + mayo + potatoes - potato salad!

Relish + mayo + eggs - egg salad!

Etc.

I've also been enjoying it when I overcook a roast to make the roast easier to swallow, or on sandwiches, burgers, etc.

I made dill pickle relish and mustard relish. Both delicious, both uniquely flavoured enough I feel like there is variety.

Which made me wonder - are there other relish flavours I could make next year?

I make both bread&butter pickles and relish - regular and spicy. We snack on the pickles, as well as having them with bbq meats, and on sandwiches. I use the relish on hot dogs, polish (especially Chicago style), in potato, pasta, egg, tuna, chicken, and ham salads, in tartar sauce. I use the juice in salad dressings bbq sauce, deviled eggs, and sometimes even just for sipping, especially for a quick, temporary fix if my blood sugar is bottoming out, or if I need quick rehydration.

Very interesting post!
I'm not a big fan of sweet relish, but I love it as dill or mustard.
Now I'm wondering, what makes a relish a relish.

Seems like it's small sized bits of food in a vinegar based brine
It might be cooked but not so much that the good breaks down into a sauce or jam.

If one were to quick pickle diced onion it would probably count as a relish.
I think some hard pear, diced into small cubes, and some cracked peppercorn could pair nicely with the onions.

I do make cranberry relish (no vinegar there, though it's both sweet and tart) and onion relish, and love corn relish/ chow chow, and once had a yummy pepper relish, with a lovely balance of sweet peppers & jalapeños. I've heard of watermelon rind relish, too.

I pickle a fine jullien cut of carrots and use it as a relish.

Just for context:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relish wrote:A relish (a pickle-based condiment) is a cooked and pickled culinary dish made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs, typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with hot dogs. In North America, the word "relish" is frequently used to describe a single variety of finely chopped pickled cucumber relish, such as pickle, dill and sweet relishes.

Relish generally consists of discernible vegetable or fruit pieces in a sauce, although the sauce is subordinate in character to the vegetable or fruit pieces. Herbs and seeds may also be used, and some relishes, such as chermoula, are prepared entirely using herbs and spices. Relish can consist of a single type or a combination of vegetables and fruit, which may be coarsely or finely chopped; its texture will vary depending on the slicing style used for these solid ingredients, but generally a relish is not as smooth as a sauce-type condiment such as ketchup. Relish typically has a strong flavor that complements or adds to the primary food item with which it is served.

I sometimes use sweet cucumber relish (usually boughten because I haven't cracked the growing of cukes) in egg- or pasta-salad sometimes.

I like all the south Asian relishes that I've tried, particularly chile-coriander pickle.

The most common relish I use is made by finely dicing kimchi -- it's a staple on dogs and makes appearances lots of other places like scrambled eggs, etc.

I am a fan of Chow Chow and India Relish.

Neither are sweet ... nor are they sour or dill.

I didn't realize so many things can qualify as relish.

Minced dill pickles onions and peppers. Minced kimchi. Those are my staples for a quick relish.

Chermoula sounds potentially yummy. I've yet to have a chutney that I like. I wonder if my chili onion garlic crisp can be considered a relish now.

I must make some chow chow this year. That's new one for me.

Christopher Weeks wrote:The most common relish I use is made by finely dicing kimchi -- it's a staple on dogs and makes appearances lots of other places like scrambled eggs, etc.

I literally just did this for the first time a few hours ago!  I mixed a kimchi slaw (with extra juice) into mashed avocado, then added cooked chicken because I was getting a real mayonnaise vibe from it and I thought chicken salad would be good.  Spoiler: it was awesome, but the flavor of my gluten-free bread didn't really play well with it.  Next time, it's going in a tortilla.  (sorry, that was just a really weird synchronicity/ coincidence, I had to say something.)

I use green tomatoes for canning relish and chutney.  I've done small batches for the fridge from odds and ends (mostly chutneys) with varying results.  I like using peppers up this way, especially the Hungarian wax types, which I don't otherwise care for.

 

Carla Burke wrote:I make both bread&butter pickles and relish - regular and spicy. We snack on the pickles, as well as having them with bbq meats, and on sandwiches. I use the relish on hot dogs, polish (especially Chicago style), in potato, pasta, egg, tuna, chicken, and ham salads, in tartar sauce. I use the juice in salad dressings bbq sauce, deviled eggs, and sometimes even just for sipping, especially for a quick, temporary fix if my blood sugar is bottoming out, or if I need quick rehydration.

I also use the juice to make 'quickles' with cucumbers and other veggies.

So a lot of these seem to be quick pickles, but some are ferments and at least one post mentioned canning.

This gets into something if wondered about for a while, pickles that are shelf stable from just their acid content.
I've seen accounts of early European settlers needing cider for vinegar, for preserving foods, but never much account of how it was used.

Acid pickling for shelf stable vegetables seems like it might be a living tradition in India.
When I eat out at an Indian place there are always pickles on the table, the veg is cut in sizes that make me think of relish.
Evidently, these relishes might use salt, vinegar, citrus acid, fermentation and/or OILS to preserve the vegetables.

When I make the bread & butter pickles/ relish, I do can them, water bath method. Not so the 'quickles'. Those are simply refrigerator pickles. To make them, I check the juice, add any extra seasoning, spices, or sugar that's brings the flavor where we like it, then bring it to a boil. While that comes to a boil, I cut up whatever veggies I want to use, put them into the jar, and pour the boiling juice over them, seal the jar, and let it cool to room temperature on the counter, then in the fridge they go. They'll keep, if we don't eat them as fast as usual, for 4 - 6 weeks.

Both processes are very different from lacto-fermenting (saur kraut, kimchi, etc, with a salt brine), but I've never even thought to lacto-ferment relish.

Carla Burke wrote:Both processes are very different from lacto-fermenting (saur kraut, kimchi, etc, with a salt brine), but I've never even thought to lacto-ferment relish.

I've seen things called relishes on fermenting blogs, but none of them are sweet like a hot dog relish.  I remember one (might have been cranberry?) that used the NOMA method and fermented it in a vacuum sealer bag, which then puffed up and made it look like some postmodern-art barf pillow.  I've also seen fermented chow-chow, which actually looked really appetizing, but ever since hearing about bongkrekic acid poisoning, I'm leery of corn ferments.

I haven't tried fermenting any kind of relish; it seems like I have a higher failure rate when pieces are smaller, as slaws/ shredded veg without a cabbage component consistently fail for me.  Maybe it's because of more air bubbles or more surface area for the bad guys to take hold before the lactobacillus?  I'm kind of curious now, but don't have the appropriate vegetables on hand to try anything.

I don’t like relish that’s made with vinegar but I love and make fermented things like kimchi all the time. I’m an addict. Cabbage, daikon and the cucumber varieties. All yummy. Esp with grilled cheese. And fried into an egg pancake with charred scallions.

If relish = chutney, and it would seem to qualify - I recently discovered rhubarb chutney.  Delish with cheese, cold meats, by itself. . . still working on it!
Yesterday I made a quick pickled celery - very finely sliced on the diagonal with white wine vinegar and a touch of sesame oil and sugar.  "Cured" while I assembled the rest of a salad.  
Another favourite is pickled capsicums - sometimes with added onion and cucumber.  Worcestershire sauce added to the vinegar etc.

I bought a yellow squash relish at a farmers market once that was absolutely phenomenal. Put it on toast with pimento cheese, one of the best combos I've come across.

Bransdon pickle: preferably home made. But nothing beats the original so a lifetime supply of the stuff might get you a good trade! Especially really good homemade stuff in wide mouth jars!