Ruth Terral Squyres Chili Sauce (or Tomato Relish, whatever name you prefer)

Chili Sauce...Tomato Relish...a little taste of heaven...whatever you like to call it, it's just plain good. Granny (AKA Ruth Terral Squyres) used to make this tomato relish and we would use it over purple hull peas or butter beans, my favorite is on peas with some cornbread.

First a little disclaimer...I am positive there is more than one way to do canning. I did this the way my Mama told me to do it, like any good daughter should. The whole event entailed more than one phone call to her or to my Aunt Fannie (AKA the best cook in the family) to ask for advice. I've never tried to do any canning or preserves until today, and was quite intimidated by the idea, but all in all, I have to say, it wasn't too bad. I'm really quite proud of myself and the product. We'll see if anyone else is!

Ok, on to the recipe. You need the following ingredients for one batch, although, I doubled the recipe and came out with 19 1pt jars. Which is a nice amount for keeping some for yourself and rationing out the rest to needy, begging family members. Ok, back to the ingredients..you need:

1/4 bushel ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped. ( this is about 10 medium-large tomatoes, if you aren't sure, ask the person you are buying them from. Do not use Hot House tomatoes!!!)
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar (or more if you like it sweeter, you can adjust as you go)
4-6 vidalia onions, chopped finely
2-3 large green bell peppers, chopped finely
3 hot chili peppers, chopped finely (you can seed them for less heat)
salt and pepper to taste

And this is how I did it:

Rinse the tomatoes off....

Chop them up!

Chop the bell peppers...my cute hubby was helping with this task...

Put all these chopped veggies into a large heavy duty stockpot, I used my Mama's 12 quart Magnalite stockpot. Again, I had doubled this recipe, so if you are doing one recipe, you won't need quite as large a pot, just make sure it's heavy duty. You don't want to scorch the bottom.

Chop the onions. I have to admit, I'm a weenie and used a food processor for this part. It was much faster and my sinuses thanked me afterwards.

Add 1 cup white vinegar. ( I did 2, since I was making double recipe)

Add 1 cup sugar (again, I did 2 since I was doubling the recipe). This is something that will be to your taste, as well. Some people like thier relish sweeter than others. I prefer mine sweet with a little heat. I ended up adding about another cup of sugar as it cooked.

Add salt to taste....

My general rule of thumb when a recipe says "to taste" is to sprinkle over the entire surface of the pot, stir well, wait about 10 minutes and taste and then add as needed, following the same procedure each time.

Do the same with the pepper....

Wash and then finely chop about 3 chiles and add to the pot. I'll show you what I did with the rest in a little bit.

Let cook 3-4 hours over a medium-low heat, stirring frequently (like every 5-10 minutes), making sure to stir all the way at the bottom of the pot.

You will sterilize your jars while this is all cooking. I did mine in the dishwasher on the hot wash and heat dry setting. Works perfectly. Let them heat dry in the dishwasher and then take them out and get them set up on the counter ready for service. Make sure the rims and lids are all clean and dry when you get ready to seal. You will want to have a canning funnel, or a funnel that has a larger opening, but not larger than the mouth of your jars. I couldn't find one at the stores, so I just cut the bottom out of a regular plastic funnel that I had on hand all ready, and it worked fine. Once your relish is cooked and ready for jarring, start dishing it up into the jars. I used my Pyrex 1 cup measuring cup to do this. And, FYI, you will want a second pair of hands to help you out with this step. One person to do the pouring into jars, another to wipe the mouth of the jar and place the lids on. Pour the relish into each jar to the curve of the mouth, and make sure the rim is clean. Place the flat lid on, and then the screw lid, but don't screw it on tight yet. You will wait until the jar has sealed and the lid has "popped" before sealing the screw-on lid completely. This could take an hour or so. Be patient.

Once completed, I had 19 1 pint jars of relish.

See? Isn't it the prettiest thing you've ever seen? Granny would be so proud of me.

Now, get you some labels and write the name and date of the product on it and stick to the jar once it has cooled completely. Save plenty for yourself and then share with the people you love, or share with the people you hate so they will hate you for knowing how to make this wonderful stuff. 

Now...for those leftover chiles...

Take an empty bottle, we used an empty 750ml Tequila bottle that somehow appeared at our house. Make sure it is clean and dry. Take those chiles and trim off the stems. You want enough to fill the bottle up to the stem.  Next, boil about 2 1/2 cups of white vinegar. Once boiling, use a funnel and pour the boiling vinegar into the bottle. Put the lid on, but don't seal completely until cooled. You will have a beautiful bottle of pepper sauce that will look like this:

Pepper sauce is great over anything...fried fish, french fries, turnip greens, peas...anything. When you start running low, you can just boil more vingar and add it to the bottle. The peppers will continue to infuse the vinegar for a LONG time. I've known people to use the same peppers for more than a year.

Now, let me spend some time talking about my Granny. Granny came to live with us shortly after my grandfather died. I can't remember Granny not living with us. A very large portion of my childhood, I shared a bedroom with Granny. She was beautiful and knew all of my secrets. I learned lots of life's lessons from her and will forever treasure and be thankful for having the blessing of her in my life. I'm not sure my mother knows how thankful we are that she came to live with us, but I think she has an inkling. Granny could tell a simple story that seemed like a fairy tale. She would laugh and throw her head back and put her hand on her chest, she laughed with everything she had. I remember Granny as being a lady, prim and proper, and respectful.

I remember when Granny got sick with cancer, I think many of us were in denial that it was happening, even though we were a part of her daily care and were witnessing her health decline. Somedays it just doesn't seem real that she is gone. She died in February 1997, about a year and a half before I married Richard. He knew her briefly, and most of that time she was sick. Each time he came to the house was like the first time she had met him. I remember laying on her bed one day, about 3 weeks before she died, and telling her that I knew I was going to marry him. She just smiled and patted my head.

I think of all of her great-grandchildren that she has yet to meet, that would have kept her in stitches. When I look at Rachel and Brian and think of Granny, I remember all the times I laid on the bed with her listening to stories, laughing and crying, and thinking of how she would have loved my kids. All of the great-grand kids. I'm thankful to know that the 2 babies I have in heaven are in her presence. 

I see my children with my mother and with Richard's mother, and see so much of that same relationship between them and realize that they have something just as special. What a blessing!!!

Even more so, I am so thankful to know that one day, I will see my beautiful, healthy grandparents in heaven, and what a day of rejoicing that will be!!!