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Tomato Relish

A preserved tomato relish made with tomatoes, sour apples, onions, salt, peppers, cayenne, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scald and skin the tomatoes.

  2. Pare, core, and cut the sour apples into small pieces.

  3. Peel the onions and chop all ingredients very fine.

Cook and seal

  1. Put everything into a large saucepan with salt, green peppers (or black pepper), cayenne pepper, and vinegar.

  2. Bring to a boil and then boil slowly for 1½ hours.

  3. Remove from heat, put the relish into jars or bottles, and seal while hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Provide the main bulk and moisture that becomes the relish base.
Sour apples
Add tartness and pectin that helps the relish thicken as it simmers.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aroma as they soften during the long simmer.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives sharpness and helps preserve the relish.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 1½ hours. A long, gentle simmer lets excess water evaporate so the relish thickens. Too little cooking leaves it watery and less stable in storage, while a hard boil can scorch the bottom of the pan.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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