How to Make Salt Free, Sugar Free, Green Tomato Relish

Piccalilli, also known as green Tomato relish, is the old fashioned answer to all those green tomatoes that did not have a chance to ripen at the end of the season. I had boxes and boxes of green tomatoes this year and a new health problem to consider as well. My friend, John, has congestive heart failure following a massive heart attack and he also has diabetes. The recipe in the Ball Blue Book (my "go to" guide for any canning or freezing questions) uses both salt and sugar in the piccalilli recipe.

My first go at altering the recipe was not perfect but at least decreased the salt and sugar a little. What the recipe calls for is ½ cup of salt sprinkled over chopped veggies which include green tomatoes, cabbage, onion and sweet red peppers. The salt brings out the extra juices which you then drain off. Ok, so I did that and then I rinsed the veggies with very cold water and drained them again. For the sugar I split the amount called for in the recipe and used ½ sugar and ½ Splenda. The Piccalilli turned out beautifully. Only one problem, I could tell from the taste test that there was still too much salt in it.

The next batch I started thinking about the reason for salt in pickles and decided that I did not need salt for preserving since I was canning the relish anyway. I decided to just press the vegetables gently in a sieve to remove the excess juice. Then instead of using sugar I just replaced all the sugar with Splenda. That took care of the sugar and salt problem. The flavor was going to be changed by the elimination of salt and brown sugar so I upped the flavor by increasing some of the spices and altering the ratio of vegetables. I also made sure my vinegar was apple cider vinegar so the fruity apple flavor would enrich the finished product.

The sugar free/salt free version is excellent. It makes a colorful and flavorful accompaniment to roast beef, pork or turkey. I use it liberally in meat sandwiches and as a substitute for salsa or cranberry sauce. Here is my recipe:

Piccalilli (Green Tomatoe Relish)

(no salt-no sugar)

4 ½ quarts peeled, chopped green tomatoes

2 quarts chopped cabbage

3 cups chopped sweet red peppers

2 cups chopped yellow Spanish onions

1 ½ cups Splenda

2 ½ tablespoons mustard seed

1 ½ tablespoons celery seed

4 ½ cups apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Chop all the vegetables and allow to sit for one hour, press out extra juice, drain off the juice in a colander or seive and add all the other ingredients. Heat to boiling and simmer for 15 minutes stirring frequently.

Pack boiling hot into scalded pint jars (be sure to leave a ¼ inch head space) and put hot lids and rings on your jars. Process pints in boiling water bath canner for 10 full minutes after water begins to boil. This makes about 8 pints.