Relishing the Summer BBQ

A guest post here from Olivia, daughter of Philippa – 24 year old trying to maintain the family heritage!

Summer may be looking dreary here in the UK but I’m holding out hope for another heatwave and I know for everyone it would be a sad day if we called summer over before September has even begun.

In light of that, I held a barbecue at my house 2 weeks ago for some, unsure how the weather would be (luckily it held). Preserves always add some flavour and excitement to what otherwise might be your sausage-in-a-bap English BBQ.

It was the perfect time to make some of Beryl’s ‘Tomato Relish (uncooked)’ to top on hot dogs, burgers, chicken or whatever dish your barbecue serves up. Being uncooked it was very simple and like many of Beryl’s recipes uses simple and easy to find ingredients, I was able to make it in advance and just pull it out of the fridge on the day.

A lot of chopping to start -a chunky relish, yes, but no one wants to bite into a hunk of onion. 

Chopping Celery

Celery, Onion and Peppers all together

One of my favourite parts (as a very amateur cook) was peeling the tomatoes – I had to call in mother for back up! Insert your knife and cut a thin indent past the peel of tomato all the the way round. Then soak the tomatoes in boiling water. After being soaked for a few minutes, the peel of the tomato should come of both sides ‘like the cap off a schoolboy’s head’ as my mother said.

Finally it is all about adding the remaining ingredients and mixing together:

I added some further chopped tomatoes to give it a bigger tomato flavour and appearance.

Storage. I love this Kilner jar, and it’s airtight seal makes it perfect for storing preserves like this. So soon enough my relish found itself neatly stored away:

On the day the relish was enjoyed by all – a great summer event!

Summer is not over!

All ingredients and quantities can be found in Beryl’s ‘Let’s Preserve It’ under ‘Tomato Relish – uncooked’