Sweet Corn Relish is really easy to put together. You will never use store-bought again once you make it yourself! The relish comes together with tomatoes, green peppers and red onions (plus the wonderful spices); a great summer preserve to keep all winter. Just one bite of this sweet corn relish and you will want to put it on every thing all summer long!
I recently made roasted potatoes and sweet corn relish and thought I should share the delicious relish recipe on its own. This relish is totally gluten-free, sugar free and vegan.
As summer is going by in a flash, now is the moment to savor all the of the fresh flavors. I have become obsessed with jars of everything in my fridge. Yes, I am turning into my Calabrian mother-in-law, Teresa. Sometimes I am pretty sure the top shelf of my fridge will collapse from the weight of the various jarred goodies.
Many of my jarred goodies are from Teresa from last summer or from when they visited us this past winter. Sadly, we didn’t make it to stay with them this summer. So I am channeling her preserving spirit and filling my top shelf all summer long!
My latest project was preserving corn! Now of all the things Teresa preserves and pickles, I have not every had her preserved corn. Not something you would typically make in Calabria, but probably in the Lombardy region where corn is grown everywhere (it’s the polenta capitol of Italy!).
I found this recipe via Smitten Kitchen and Deb found it in Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry. I was familiar with Bryant’s work. I have checked out over the years his incredible vegan books. Every recipe I’ve seen of his is truly inspiring. I did hear about the Vegetable Kingdom book but the last few months have been a blur (it actually came out in February). And it is my next book that I will invest in (I love to have an actual book, instead of a digital copy).
How do you make the best sweet corn relish?
You could make this days ahead and I have even made it the day of. The flavors do really come together the more time they have to be together and marinate. But it can even be enjoyed the day of (if you’re so excited like I was and couldn’t wait another minute to try it!).
The first step for the relish is to gather all the ingredients and then make the vinegar mixture. I have used a combination of rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar (it was what I had on hand). Other times I have made it using just rice wine vinegar. Either way, it turned out great!
The next step for the relish, place all the ingredients in your large jar.
Then pour the heated up marinade over it. Close the jar and let the magic happen!
What spices are used in Sweet Corn Relish?
This particular recipe uses cumin seeds, whole mustard seeds and whole black peppercorns. Using what was in my pantry, I used the ground version of cumin, mustard and black pepper (freshly ground peppercorns). The recipe also calls for ground turmeric. You could adjust spices to your taste (more or less cumin…cumin has such as strong flavor, so maybe just a touch is all you need).
How much sugar is added to this recipe?
The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of raw cane sugar. Deb used 1 tablespoon. I have seen recipes with even more sugar (and some with a lot of brown sugar). As I was making this Whole30/Paleo, there is no sugar in my recipe. But feel free to use 1 tablespoon and add more if you like it sweeter (if you aren’t following a diet of no sugar).
What ingredients are in this relish?
Here is all you need to make the sweet corn relish. There are a lot of ingredients but perhaps you have many of the components in your refrigerator or pantry:
- sweet corn
- tomatoes (plum or cherry)
- red onion
- green bell pepper
- garlic
- unseasoned rice vinegar
- ground mustard
- ground cumin
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- ground turmeric
What to serve with Sweet Corn Relish?
Truly there are endless ways to enjoy this delicious condiment. If you are a hot dog eater, I suppose that is truly summer way (I’m not a hot dog eater!!). Burgers! Yes, just perfect topped on a burger (if you’re gluten-free…ditch the buns, and enjoy all the sides with your burger and the relish!).
Simply wonderful topped on any grilled fish, grilled chicken, steak. If you’re vegan (and not Whole30), grilled tofu. Serve it with baked potatoes (white or sweet). A great taco topping. And of course, hot dogs and burgers! My favorite way: grab a spoon and eat it out of the jar! It is seriously THAT good! (just make sure you don’t eat directly out of the jar…spoon some out into a plate).
How long will this corn relish keep fresh?
Deb mentions storing for up to one year in the refrigerator. I would store mine for up to 4-6 weeks maximum.
This relish has been made several times in the last couple weeks (yes, we eat a lot of corn in the summer!). The relish does get even more delicious with time. My daughter and husband (yes, my Italian husband) love it the most! It’s one of their new summer favorite recipes.
Keep in mind it makes 1 large quart jar or you could divide it between 2 1-pint jars (or even smaller jars).
PIN for later!
Other easy summer jarred recipes:
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and source is Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom.
Sweet Corn Relish
Ingredients
- 2 cups corn kernels cut from 2-4 ears, depending on how large the corn ears are
- 1/2 cup plum tomatoes cut in small pieces (or 12 ripe cherry tomatoes, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices)
- 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
- 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 1 clove garlic peeled and ends cut off (I made a version also using freshly chopped garlic, either way is fine)
- 3/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
Instructions
- If you’re using fresh corn, bring a pot of water to high heat and boil the corn. Blanch the corn for about a minute and drain in a colander.
- Let the corn cool and slice off the kernels. I had leftover grilled corn on hand and sliced the kernels off the ear.
- Place the corn kernels, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic in a 1-quart jar, or divide between 2 1-pint jars, and set aside.
- If you blanched fresh corn, in the same pot you used for the corn, combine the vinegar, 1/4 cup water, sugar, mustard and cumin seeds, salt, pepper, and turmeric. Bring to a low simmer over medium heat.
- Cook until the vinegar mixture heats up (if you are using sugar, until the sugar dissolved), about 3 minutes. Pour the liquid over the corn mixture and let cool.
- Refrigerate the relish for at least one day to develop the flavor.
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