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.