Radish Relish

Have you ever had spring time and too many radishes? Yeah, it's never happened to me before, either.

We actually ate all the lovely French breakfast radishes form our garden, but the Community garden we work has so many radishes that they've now either gone to seed or become so big that they're really just spicy potatoes. They also didn't get thinned, so they all worked their giant selves up into their air so they're vulnerable to bugs and drying and such. So, yesterday we picked about 10 pounds of radishes—that's the weight of the roots, not the leaves—and today I set to do something useful with them.

Enter Radish Relish. Now, I don't know how it will be after spending a few weeks/months in the cupboard, but today it's a little spicy, a little tangy, a little sweet, and would be excellent on a hamburger. Or roast beef. It's like pickle relish (well, duh . . .) but a little more exciting, to my mind, like a cross between relish and horseradish. When you come visit, I'll let you try it.

Radish Relish

makes 2-3 pints, but I made, um, SIX batches, so I have 8 quarts.

1 pound radishes

1/2 pound celery stalks

1/2 large sweet onion (about 1 cup)

1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeds and all

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon mustard seed

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed

White Vinegar to cover

Grate radishes, celery, onion, and jalapeño in your food processor, and mix them all together. Combine with remaining ingredients in a large pan, cover with vinegar (you may want to weigh down the vegetables to keep them from floating up) and let stand on the counter for 3 hours. After sitting time, bring to boil, and cook for 10 minutes. Ladle into jars and store in the refrigerator, or follow good health canning guidelines to preserve on the shelf.