Sweet Cucumber Relish is a sweet, crunchy and pickled relish that is ideal to liven up your sandwiches, burgers, salads and more.
It’s a sweet but tangy alternative to sauces or chutney. It’s also the perfect way to preserve excess cucumbers from the garden or bargain buys at the supermarket.
What is a relish?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a relish as “A piquant sauce or pickle eaten with plain food to add flavour”
Is the Sweet Cucumber Relish spicy?
This Sweet Cucumber Relish contains spices but these spices are for flavour rather than hot chilli spices. If you want to make it more spicy, add more chilli flakes.
How do you serve the relish?
This Sweet Cucumber Relish is great to serve with burgers, fries, cheese and crackers, and cold sliced ham. Use it to liven up any salad or sandwich.
I’m really pleased with the way this recipe turned out and I think you are going to love it too.
Image by Couleur from Pixabay[/caption]
Growing Cucumbers
If you grow your own cucumbers then I know you will have a time when there are just too many to eat.
I don’t have a greenhouse yet so have no experience of cucumber growing. If you want to find out more I would suggest the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) as they provide comprehensive and reliable advice.
Preserving Cucumbers
Cucumbers don’t freeze well because they contain too much water. So the best way to preserve them is in a pickle or relish.
How to make Sweet Cucumber Relish
It’s not difficult to make Sweet Cucumber Relish but you do need to plan ahead because the vegetables need to be salted to release the excess water.
Sweet Cucumber Relish Ingredients
- Cucumber
- Red (Bell) Pepper
- Onion
- Spices
- Sugar
- Vinegar
- Cornflour (cornstarch)
What kind of cucumbers do you use?
As I don’t grow my own cucumbers at the moment I buy the cucumbers from the supermarket. These are standard salad cucumbers.
How do you prepare the Cucumbers, Red Pepper and Onion?
- Wash the cucumbers then cut them in half lengthways. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds, they should come out easily. Discard the seeds.
- Cut the cucumbers into small cubes approximately 1 cm square.
- Wash the red pepper, cut in half and remove the stalk, seeds and white pith. Cut the pepper into small cubes about 0.5 cm square.
- Remove the skin from the onion and chop finely.
Leave vegetables to soak overnight
Put the cucumbers, pepper and onion in a large non-metallic bowl. Sprinkle with salt and leave for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Why do you have to salt the vegetables and leave overnight?
Cucumbers contain a lot of water; the salt will draw out the water, which you drain off. Doing this keeps your cucumber pieces firm and crisp in the relish.
Drain and rinse the vegetables
Drain the vegetables in a colander, rinse with cold water, then place them into a tea towel and twist to squeeze out the excess water.
Sterilise your Jam Jars
It’s now time to sterilise the jars that you want to use to contain the relish.
How do you sterilise your jars?
I sterilise my jars and metal lids by thoroughly washing and rinsing them. I then put them, still wet, upside down onto a baking tray and place it in the oven at 150C just before I start to make the relish.
The water creates steam which helps to sterilise the jars. I take them out of the oven and fill them with the hot relish, then put on the lids. If you would like to know more then Tin & Thyme has a comprehensive guide to sterilising jars and lids.
Crush the Spices
Roughly crush the whole spices in a mortar and pestle or in a bowl with the end of a rolling pin, or in a spice grinder. Add the turmeric and the cornflour and mix together.
Heat the vinegar and add the vegetables
Put the vinegar and sugar into a large pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. Take out 2 tbsp of the hot vinegar and add the vegetables.
Add hot vinegar to spices
Add the hot vinegar to the spices and cornflour and blend them together.
Bring to the boil
Bring the vinegar and vegetables back to the boil. Then add the spice and cornflour mix and simmer for 3 minutes stirring. Stirring is essential so that the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
Ladle into sterilised jam jars
Ladle into the hot sterilised jars. and screw on the lids tightly. Leave for 6 weeks to mature before using it.
Ideal Holiday Gift
Swett Cucumber Relish is an ideal Christmas gift on its own or as part of a hamper.
More Chutney and Relish Recipes from Farmersgirl Kitchen
How to make Spicy Courgette and Apple Chutney
Green Tomato, Apple & Pepper Chutney is the perfect way to use the last tomatoes of the season. Combining green tomatoes with apple and sweet peppers makes a sweet fruity chutney that is ideal as a gift.
More Chutney Recipes
- Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Chutney – Natural Kitchen Adventures
- Best Beetroot Chutney – Tin & Thyme
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Sweet Cucumber Relish
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Large saucepan
- wooden spoon
- colander
- Tea towel
- 5 glass jam jars with lids
Ingredients
- 1.3 kg Cucumber approx. 3 cucumbers
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 onion large
- 100 g salt
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp dill seed
- 1 tsp pink peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp pickling spice If you don't have pickling spice use mustard seeds
- 200 g sugar
- 600 ml cider vinegar
- 25 g cornflour
Instructions
- Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Discard the seeds.
- Finely chop the cucumbers into dice of approximately 1 cm.
- Deseed the red pepper and dice finely.
- Peel and finely chop the onion.
- Place all the vegetables in a large non-metallic bowl and add the salt, mix the salt though the vegetables. Cover with a tea towel or cling film and leave for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- When you remove the cover you will see that there is now a pool of liquid. Drain the vegetables in a colander, rinse with cold water, then place them into a tea towel and twist to squeeze out all the excess water.
- Sterilise the jars by washing, rinsing and placing in the oven at 110C for 20 minutes.
- Roughly crush the whole spices in a mortar and pestle or in a bowl with the end of a rolling pin, or in a spice grinder. Add the turmeric and the cornflour and mix.
- Put the vinegar and sugar into a large pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil.
- Add two tablespoons of the hot vinegar to the spices and cornflour and blend together
- Add the vegetables to the vinegar and sugar and bring back to the boil. Then add the spice and cornflour mix and cook for 3 minutes stirring.
- Ladle into the sterilised jars. Leave for 6 weeks to mature before using.
Kavey says
I’ve never made this kind of relish but it looks wonderful!
Janice Pattie says
Thank you! I’m really rather pleased with it.
Camilla Hawkins says
I remember having Bicks cucumber relish as a kid. Would love to try your cucumber relish, looks utterly yummy! Thank you for sharing my chutney:-)
Janice Pattie says
Yes, it is similar to Becks. I loved that relish on burgers and sandwiches.
Alex says
OOh this looks delicious. I love pickles and sauces with almost anything, especially meat so would love to try this recipe for myself. Thanks for sharing Janice!
Janice Pattie says
I’m glad you like it. I’m really pleased with it.
Emma says
Ooooh I’ve not made cucumber relish before! Great when you’ve got a glut at the allotment.
Janice Pattie says
Exactly, but also not too expensive to make if you have to buy them as you only need 3 cucumbers.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
I’ve made many chutneys but never a relish quite like this. I bet it is super tasty. Sharing it now 🙂
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Jac. It is a little different in technique from chutney and retains some crunch!
Chris says
The relish sounds really lovely. Often I say to myself, you should try things like this more often. There should be more relish in life.
Janice Pattie says
Absolutely, love this. Thanks, Chris.
Alison says
My gran used to make something similar, I must give this a try it looks lovely
Janice Pattie says
Thanks Alison. I hope it meets your grans standards ☺️
AJ says
This is a great recipe and easy to make. I’m a little concerned at the saltiness of the finished product despite thouroughly rinsing the overnight veggies. I’m hoping it will tame down after the 6 weeks in jar.
Janice Pattie says
That’s great that you found the recipe easy to make. I haven’t found it to be overly salty and you are only using a teaspoonful or so with other food which dilutes it further. It definitely is a relish that improves on keeping, so some of the rawness will mellow after a couple of months.
Ross says
This sounds delicious!! Perfect to use up all the cucumbers from the veg patch where we are house sitting!
Out of interest, how long will it keep once jarred?
Ross
Janice Pattie says
Hi Ross, glad you like the recipe. The relish will keep for at least a year. I’ve just finished the last jar from 2019 and it was perfect.
Janice says
I’m assuming you boil the jars once finished as in regular canning ??
Janice Pattie says
Hi there, I don’t use the canning method for any of my preserves. Sweet Cucumber Pickle will keep in sealed sterilised jars For up to a year without coming to any harm. However, if you wish to boil the jars, then it should also be fine, although I have not tried this.
Janice says
Sounds good 🙂new at preserving so thought I should ask….making some today !
Janice Pattie says
You are welcome. I hope you enjoy the pickle.
Liz Davies says
What can I substitue for turmric, dill seed and pink peppercorns?
Having a bit of difficulty sourcing them locally.
Thanks – Liz
Janice Pattie says
Fennel seed would be a substitute for dill seed. Use black peppercorns instead of pink. Turmeric is more difficult, however it is a key ingredient in curry powder, if you choose a mild curry powder you could get away with that. The pickle won’t taste the same but it should still be good.
Sally says
Easy to make, but I wish I hadn’t added hot vinegar to the cornflour mix as it solidified and was very difficult to mix in. Other than that, it tastes very promising!!
Janice Pattie says
Ah! I feel your pain! Glad it worked out okay in the end though.
wendy Coulter says
Haven’t tasted yet. I made this on 12.8.21 and had the same problem with the cornflour solidifying and couldn’t get the lumps out. Made a second batch with cooler vinegar and cornflour then gradually added hot vinegar, this was better. I haven’t mixed cornflour with hot liquid in my cooking before, only cold, why does the recipe call for hot vinegar? I read you can whisk the cornflour if this occurs, but I didn’t think of that at the time. Can’t wait to try both batches, I hope they taste as good as they look. Made the Tomato and Chilli Relish yesterday, halving ingredients as I didn’t have enough tomatoes, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a hit!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks for that feedback Wendy. I didn’t have an issue with the cornflour but I will have another look at the recipe and see if I can ensure that the lumpiness doesn’t occur. Hope you enjoy your chutney.
Sarah says
Tasty recipe and a great way to use up an excess of cucumbers. I used fennel seeds, black peppercorns + mustard seeds in place of the dill seed, pink pepp + other.
I would agree with another that it is very salty, despite careful rinsing, but the flavour is very good and I think that’d mellow a bit when eaten with something else.
Will try again in the future with a bit less salt.
Janice Pattie says
Hi Sarah, glad you like the recipe. I made it again a few weeks ago with the same amount of salt but mine was fine. I tried some a day after making and didn’t find it too salty. But do try less sat if you are finding that problem. It’s just there to draw out the water from the cucumber.
Daniel says
I have just made this but with cucamelons and sweetcorn. It turned out well. I added a fair bit more of the hot vinegar to the corn flour/spice mix to stop it going solid. I look forward to trying in in 6 weeks. Thank you for the recipe
Janice Pattie says
Sweet one sounds like a great addition and I’ve heard a lot of good things about cucamelons. Thanks for your kind comment and I hope you enjoy your relish.
Chris says
That sounds like an excellent recipe. I really would love to try it out. So I already reserved the recipe. It’s something like that what I need. Thank you for sharing! And a great plus for the part on sterilising the jars!
I hope you are doing fine! Many greetings, Chris!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Chris. Yes it’s a really tasty relish, we love it. I’m doing fine thank you, hope you are too.
Diane says
I’ve just made this, the liquid seems very thin, does it thicken up when matured?
Janice Pattie says
Hi Diane
It won’t thicken up very much after maturing. if you think it’s going to be too wet, then it might be worth putting it back into the pan and reducing it a bit more. Or you could add more cornflour mixed with a very small amount of vinegar as that will thicken it too.
It may be that your cucumbers held on to more water and this has made the mixture wetter. I hope you manage to get the pickle to a good consistency. I haven’t had any problem with this recipe but there’s always a first time.
Ursula says
Just made this relish for the first time, looks promising, used to make a sandwich spread lot’s more ingredients.
Janice Pattie says
Hi Ursula, it’s one of my all time favourite relish recipes. It does go really well on sandwiches, particularly becuase the pieces are quite small, so it spreads well. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Bruce says
Just made the relish, looks good. Easy to make, all mixed in well and is now in the jars. Don’t know if I can wait 6 weeks to try it to though!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Bruce. I’m glad it went well for you. Give it a couple of weeks and see what you think. The vinegar flavour definitely mellows over time but you can certainly eat it before then.
Stuart McCabe-Bell says
I’ve just made this for the first time and in the jars, it’s looking very promising.
So much less fiddly only having to leave in the salt for 2 hours. When mixing with the spices, yes it was thick but I just added more Hot Vinegar and it seems fine.
I suspect it might be a bit runny but as I reckon we’ll add to all sorts of meals rather than a burger, I reckon that’ll be fine.
Never ‘cooked’ cucumber before but can’t wait for 6 weeks. Thanks so much for a great recipe, especially when so many seemed so fiddly.
Janice Pattie says
Thank you for the feedback, Stuart. I’m glad you found the recipe easy to use and I hope you enjoy the relish.