Original Ifield relish recipe
This recipe was given to me well over 30 years ago by my Auntie, as you can see from the photo of the typed original recipe. This photo gives the recipe provenance. I just made the relish for the first time in many years because I had an abundance of home grown tomatoes.
What has surprised me is how tasty and well balanced the spices are and how tasty the relish is for such an old recipe where the tastes are usually quite bland.
Our multiculturalism as given us a much more varied palate than our parents had but this recipe shows that previous generations used pickles to flavour their food.
Ifield tomato relish – so yum
Ingredients and Method
- 3 kg tomatoes
- 1 kg onions
- ½ cup salt
Add all of the above ingredients to a bowl, stir and leave all night for the liquids to drain off, stirring occasionally.
- 4 cups vinegar (approx)
- 4 cups sugar
Pour off brine and put tomato/onion mix into pan. Almost cover with vinegar and bring mix to the boil. Add sugar, stir until dissolved.
- 2 tbs curry powder
- 4 tsps mustard powder
- 3 tbs cornflour
Add the curry powder, mustard powder and the cornflour (mixed with some liquid and stirred to remove lumps before adding to mix).
Stir mix until thickened. Simmer for 30 minutes then add the mace, cloves, ginger and pepper.
- 1 tsp mace
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground pepper
Pour into sterilised jars and seal with jam sealers.
Keeps for ages.