Skip to main content
Main

Tomato Relish

A preserved tomato relish made with tomatoes, celery, onions, green peppers, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, mustard seed, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Tomato Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel, chop, and drain the tomatoes overnight.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the drained tomatoes, chopped celery, onions, and green peppers.

Season and store

  1. Add the vinegar, brown sugar, coarse sea salt, white mustard seed, and cinnamon, then mix well.

  2. Do not cook.

  3. Store in a sealed container.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Form the bulk of the relish and release juice that the drained pieces leave behind.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the relish its sharp, tangy character and helps preserve it.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aromatic bite to the mixture.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent flavor and a slight crunch to the relish.

The step that matters

Drain the tomatoes overnight. Tomatoes hold a lot of water. If they are not well drained, the extra liquid dilutes the vinegar and sugar, leaving the relish thin and less concentrated in flavor.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard, cinnamon):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard, cinnamon. 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.

More tomato relish recipes

Green 16Spiced 3 See all 35 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipes