There’s nothing easier to make than this tomato relish: add ingredients to pot, let stew for an hour, cool down, and now it’s ready! Ballymaloe Country Relish is my favourite and is such good quality, so I usually don’t bother making relish myself, but I thought it would be nice to make a batch and stock up with a few jars for Christmas. They make nice little gifts for people too if you wrap a ribbon around your jar. I haven’t done that myself, but it’s a nice idea for the more organised people out there!
This recipe is adapted from a Rachel Allen recipe (and as a Ballymaloe cook, her recipe is probably closet to their famous Country Relish), so give it a go and enjoy.
Ingredients (makes four jars):
800g vine tomatoes chopped
200g cherry tomatoes chopped
250g cooking apples chopped (I used a mixture of cooking apples and cox’s apples)
250g chopped brown onion
225ml white wine vinegar
175g raisins
300g sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1. Throw all ingredients in to a big pot. Let sugar dissolve and then bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Then bring down to a simmer and leave to simmer for an hour, stirring the whole time to avoid the end of the pot burning (using a heavy bottomed pot will help prevent this).
2. When done, let to cool. Taste and season if required with extra spices or salt/pepper.
3. When cooled put into sterilised clean glass jars. (You can sterilise them by placing them in the oven at 180C for 5 mins). Secure lids tightly. These are best enjoyed if left to mature for a week or two first, but I had some of mine that day and it was really nice too.
I just made this yesterday, from a whole bunch of tomatoes from pour garden. What a perfect way to preserve them! This is absolutly delicious! We tried it on a (homemade) hamburger) which i can recomend too! The first jar was opened right away, and really good! So i.m curious how it will be in two weeks when is has matured! thanks for sharing!!
Great, I’m delighted you found it so delicious! It’s a great one and the jars of relish last for months. I agree they’re great in burgers, I also like them in sandwiches or with an omelette. Enjoy 🙂
We moved to the states where Ballymaloe is harder to come by and much dearer when we do find it.
I tried one batch just to see if it was close to the original.
I used tomatoes from my garden and bought the rest of the ingredients.
My husband loves it, he says this recipe is better than Ballymaloe, no sour aftertaste.
I’m on my 4th batch now and started using distilled vinegar. It works just fine and is much cheaper. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Karen, that’s fantastic I’m delighted you love the recipe. I’m a relish fiend, I think it goes so well with so many dishes 🙂 It’s great to make the batches as well, a few jars make great presents. If you like this one you should try my apple relish too, also really good if you like the Ballymaloe one 🙂