Vidalia Onion and Peach Relish

  Looking for something different to top off my goat cheese and turkeys burgers, I spotted this recipe in the May issue of Southern Living. It did take some time to chop the onions(not too many tears) and peaches. If you do have a chopper, you could save some time with the onions.
 The recipe makes 10 (8 ounce) jars and the total time involved was close to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I added a pear at the last minutes as I was short of peaches. ( I kept eating them!)

Made and packaged with love to hand out to my friends!

I am going to try this on top of my pork roasts as well.

Recipe:
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of apple cider vinegar
2 cups of water
1/4 cup of Gin! Yep, you read that correctly!
1 1/2 T. of salt. The recipe called for 2 teaspoons
1 T. mustard seeds
1 t.celery salt
1/2 t.dried crushed red pepper
4 bay leaves, crushed. I also used extra leaves and placed them in the jars primarily for decoration.
3 pounds of Vidalia onions,finely chopped
3 pounds of fresh peaches, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves,thinly sliced.

Fill your canner half full with water and bring to a boil. ( Make sure you have washed all your jars.) Now, place 10 jars in a large stockpot and cover the jars with water. Bring to a boil and then to a simmer. Now place the bands and lids in a sauce pan and cover with water, boil and simmer. Remove hot jars, one at a time, using your jar lifter.

Bring the water, sugar,vinegar, gin, celery salt, mustard seeds, red pepper and the crushed bay leaves to a boil in a Dutch over over medium-high heat. Add the onions, peaches and garlic; boil, stirring occasionally,15 minutes.

Pour hot mixture into the hot jars, filling to 1/2 inch from the top. Remove all the air bubbles and remember to wipe the rims clean. Cover immediately with the metal lids and screw on the bands, not too tight. Place the jars in the canning rack and then drop into the simmering water-bath. Add additional boiling water as needed to cover by 1 to 2 inches. Bring the water to a rolling boil; boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner and let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Test seals of jars by pressing the center of each lid. If the lids do not pop, the jars are properly sealed. Store in a cool, dark place at room temperature up to a year.

For refrigerator relish: Omit steps 1 and 3. Prepare the recipe as directed in step 2. Let the mixture completely cool, about 2 hours. Store in airtight containers in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.