"Mother-in-Law's Tongue" Cucumber Relish for Winter

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make "Mother-in-Law's Tongue" for the winter? Gather all your ingredients. Since every vegetable in this relish gets ground up, you can use the misshapen ones—small or overgrown. This is how I usually use up my odd-looking cucumbers and tomatoes. It's best to use red bell peppers so the finished relish has a rich red color.

2. Step 2:

   

   Start by washing and drying all the vegetables. Remove the stem ends from the tomatoes and peppers, then cut them into pieces small enough to run through a meat grinder. Peel the garlic.

3. Step 3:

   

   Grind the cut tomatoes, peppers, and garlic in a blender or meat grinder. Be sure to use the coarse plate on the meat grinder, or the vegetables will keep getting stuck. To keep the grinder from clogging, it helps to alternate the vegetables as you feed them in.

4. Step 4:

   

   Trim the ends off the cucumbers and slice them into thin rounds no more than 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. A mandoline or shredding grater makes this much quicker, but an ordinary knife works fine, too.

5. Step 5:

   

   Transfer the sliced cucumbers and the ground vegetable mixture to a deep, heavy-bottomed pot. Pour in the vegetable oil.

6. Step 6:

   

   Add the salt and sugar to the vegetable mixture and stir everything together well.

7. Step 7:

   

   Set the pot on the stove and bring the contents to a boil, then immediately lower the heat. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, then pour in the vinegar and keep it on the heat for another 5 minutes.

8. Step 8:

   

   Pack the hot relish into sterilized jars and seal them with sterilized lids. I boil the lids ahead of time, or hold them in boiling water for 5 minutes.

9. Step 9:

   

   Turn the jars of "Mother-in-Law's Tongue" cucumber relish upside down and let them cool for a day, wrapped in a blanket or towel. The next day, move them to a cool spot. No special storage conditions are needed—I keep mine in the pantry or the garage.