Fermented Sour Peach and Green Olive Relish
Description
My first concrete memories of traditional relish come from my days as a young kid with my siblings when we were out grocery shopping with our mom at Costco. They served up these cheap, giant hot dogs, among other things. It was an easy way to do bulk-shopping for a family with kids in-town, where you could simultaneously feed your minions a quick & cheap meal, on-the-go.
The condiments for these Costco hot dogs were served in either pump-style or crank-style machines, where you turn this giant metal crank to slowly churn out loads of diced raw white onion or bread & butter pickle relish directly onto your dog, to taste. I always went for an excessive quantity of both—this Costco relish and raw onion taste memory will always stick with me; I chase it, on occasion.
Traditional relish in the United States elicits strong opinions from both lovers and haters alike. In this recipe, sour peaches, diced white onions, and pitted green olives are lacto-fermented, and then combined with some lightly pickled diced cucumbers and blended to create a sour peach and green olive relish. This condiment is the perfect addition to grilled hot dogs, burgers, sausages, or chicken. Costco should carry it.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Fermentation duration: Approximately 5 days for the peaches, onions, and olives.
Serves: 20
Note: Sometimes, to spice this recipe up a bit, I will add a hot pepper or two to the fermentation process. You can customize the heat level and sweetness to your palate. If you don’t have a white onion, feel free to use red onion, or a couple diced shallots. For garlic lovers, add some sliced garlic to the peach, olive, and onion fermentation.
For the cucumber portion of the recipe here that is quick-pickled with sugar, water, and apple cider vinegar, you can feel free to cut down on the quantity of added white granulated sugar. I find this sweet bread & butter pickled cucumber mixes nicely with the sour peaches, onions, and green olives, but again, adjust as you see fit.
Kosher salt and water are included twice in this recipe below, because initially there are two separate products being made. These are subsequently combined and blended after a few days.
Ingredients
Instructions
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When you are ready to begin your fermentation, clean and sanitize two separate mason jars or fermentation vessels.
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In the first mason jar, add the diced peaches, onions, and pitted olives.
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Stir together 100g of water with 12g of Kosher salt, and mix until the salt is completely dissolved.
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Pour the salt water brine on top of the peaches, onions, and olives.
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Keep the produce submerged below the surface of the brine using a glass or ceramic fermentation weight.
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Cover the jar with a lid, and check on the ingredients every day to release the gas that has built up inside the jar.
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After roughly five days, transfer the peaches, onions, and olives to the fridge while you prepare the cucumbers.
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For the quick-pickled cucumbers, add the white granulated sugar, water, apple cider vinegar, and additional Kosher salt to a small sauce pot on the stove.
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Bring the heat to medium, and heat the liquid contents while stirring until the sugar and Kosher salt are completely dissolved.
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Remove the saucepan from the heat, and allow the contents to cool at room temperature.
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Toast the coriander seeds lightly in a dry sauté pan (without fat), moving the seeds around in the pan for roughly one minute until they are lightly aromatic and toasted.
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Add the red pepper flakes, toasted coriander seeds and the diced cucumbers to your second sterilized mason jar with the apple cider vinegar pickling liquid that you heated up and cooled down earlier.
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Cover the cucumbers and toasted coriander seeds in the pickling liquid, and allow the contents to sit in the fridge overnight.
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After the cucumbers have pickled overnight, drain out 75% of the pickling brine, and discard the excess brine.
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Drain the fermented peaches, onions, and olives that are stored in the fridge, and mix the strained fermented contents with the remaining pickling brine and diced cucumbers from earlier.
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Blend the contents until you reach a chunky puree consistency, and store in the fridge covered until you are ready to serve.
User Reviews
Very unique ingredient combinations here!