{"id":1980,"date":"2023-03-23T11:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T10:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2023-03-23T11:55:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T10:55:06","slug":"opening-day-hot-dog-relish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/23\/opening-day-hot-dog-relish\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening-Day Hot Dog Relish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Five years ago, I got delicious, sugary, American-style pickle relish from a German grocery Discounter<\/em> during their annual “American”-food week, for about an Euro. It tasted like the cheap stuff my Dad bought from the same Discounter<\/em> when I was growing up in Iowa, minus the neon-green food coloring. I only need it a couple times a year for baseball hot dogs, but with so much sugar and vinegar, it was still fine to eat after years in the fridge.

But nothing lasts forever. This year, there was no relish offered for sale at this Discounter<\/em>. As I cleaned the fridge, panic set in.<\/p>\n\n\n

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So long, old friend.
March 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tough choice: Pay 8\u20ac for a jar of name-brand imported pickle relish at a specialty shop, or buy out-of-season ingredients for more money and make my own. OK, more of an obvious<\/strong> choice.

Pickle relish was developed to take advantage of the August glut of cucumbers, and make them shelf-stable so they could be enjoyed in winter. All the recipes I found started with ten pounds of cucumbers… At this time of year\/German inflationary history<\/a>, a single cucumber at the farmers market costs the same amount as a jar of six “American-style” hot dogs. Panic was turning quickly to despair…then there was a sale at the grocery store in the neighborhood and I scored three cukes for 3\u20ac. I weighed them, and adjusted a random recipe down.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Don’t ask how much I paid for that red pepper.
March 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Then I embarked on a five-day, six-store search for celery seed. Like lemongrass<\/a>, it’s a component of a thousand pre-mixes, but nearly impossible to find alone. Why waste shelf space with pure spices when your preferred customers want a nebulous “Tofu-Seasoning” at twice the profit? Finally, my Saturday morning spice dealer came through with a 3\u20ac-baggie. It’s sitting in the cupboard next to the Baharat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Basically powdered umami.
March 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Simultaneously, I hunted down appropriate salt. “Pickling salt” turns up “P\u00f6kelsalz<\/em>“, which is nitrates for sausage-making. Useful but wrong. I settled for “rustic Alpine salt<\/a>“–from a mine<\/a> that Mr Radish and I visited in 2008. Life is a series of circles.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Vintage Tupperware.
March 2023.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The first step is “run all your vegetables through the food processor.”

I do not have a food processor.

I watched the whole History Time<\/a> podcast on the Sea Peoples while I chopped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bissl zu grob, gell?<\/em> The colors look great, though.<\/em>
March 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then I added the salt and some water, and let it sit overnight.

Next day, as I drained off the brine, I thought about saving some of it to make salad dressing, but if I do that, then I will have to make salads, so forget it!

Into the pot, along with vinegar, mustard seed, turmeric, celery seed, and what seemed like a lot of sugar at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n

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I love turmeric.
March 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It boils a long time, then you add cornstarch, then it boils some more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n